A woman lost over £100k to gambling when she became addicted after a £30 win – before risking ‘every penny she’d ever owned’ as the buzz spiralled into an eight-year addiction. Stacey Goodwin, 30, landed a part-time job in a bookmaker when she was 18.

She decided to place her own wager when she visited another betting shop to get change – putting £1 in a fixed odds betting terminal (FOBT) and won £30. Stacey quickly found herself trying to do it again and was spending more than she could afford trying to cover her losses – gambling in secrecy online.

She claims she lost relationships and homes but maintained her full-time job at a call centre as she battled her addiction. Things hit rock bottom when she gambled her ex-partner’s mortgage payment – winning and immediately losing a £50k jackpot.

She entered a rehab programme to overcome her addiction and learn how to channel her triggers into other things- such as cleaning. She now is mentoring other women with gambling addictions to break the stigma and shame.

Stacey, from Chesterfield, now a mentor for charity Epic Restart, said: “At 18, I got a part-time in a bookies and it was the first time I’d ever seen anyone gambling. I used to see people who I thought had a problem there all day every day and they didn’t look like me.

“They were middle-aged men. One day I went over to another betting shop to get change and put £1 in a FOBT machine and won – it was only £30 but at the time it was a night out.

“It felt really good, and I quickly found myself trying to do it again, but I was soon spending more than I could afford. I wasn’t trying to get money for a night out anymore – it was to cover my losses.

“I gambled online so I could gamble lots more and lose lots more without anyone seeing. I didn’t think it was normal for an 18-year-old to be doing it, but I was addicted to the quick hit of slots and scratch cards.”

Stacey spent any spare moment she had gambling online. Despite starting a job and working up to management at a call centre, Stacey kept her addiction hidden.

She said: “I managed to hold down a full-time job the entire time Affordability checks for credit cards weren’t as stringent as they are now – all I had to do was prove was I had a full-time job.

“I worked in a call centre – up to manager level – and hid it incredibly well. That is the scariest part. I earned nearly £30k a year.”

According to Stacey, she gambled any penny she’d ever had and betted the entirety of her salary every month. She also managed to get loans and credit cards with high interest rates.

She added: “I lost friends and partners – all I wanted to do was sit on my own and gamble. I was incredibly low and lonely – I didn’t want to do it but I felt like I had to. I didn’t know an adult life without gambling. I gambled away my rent money and I had to move back home to my mum’s. It broke down relationships – I lost homes.”

Stacey hit breaking point when she realised no amount of love or money could stop her addiction. When living with an ex-partner, she gambled away her mortgage repayment of around £300 and won and instantly lost a jackpot of £50k in 2019.

She said: “It’s hard to believe someone can still love you when you’ve done that to them. That was the moment I decided to go into rehab. There were very few people I told because of the stigma but I opened up to my mum because she has always been my best friend.”

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Stacey went into a women’s retreat and counselling service through the charity Gordan Moody – a gambling addiction charity. She said: “There was a room full of other women saying the same things as me – it was the first time I’d seen people like me.”

Stacey learned her triggers were emotional and she would feel compelled to gamble whenever she felt an overwhelming feeling – whether that was happy or sad. She passed control of her finances over to her mum, Susan, 55, and entered a debt management plan.

After her dad, David, 66, suffered a stroke in 2020 she had brief relapse but hasn’t gambled since. She said: “I wish I’d spoken earlier about my addiction and got the help I needed.

“We can break down the stigma by talking – there’s no shame. Nobody places a bet with the intention of becoming addicted, it can happen to anyone.”

Stacey now has her own apartment, a car on the drive and a dog and hopes to show others there’ s a light at the end of the tunnel. She is working alongside Gamble Aware to help eradicate the gambling harms stigma.