comply with guidelines. the organisation said: a couple of months after spending time at the gordon moody centre, we travelled to wales where alyssa is now living at a recovery house for people who ve struggled with addiction. they regularly get together to discuss how to improve the support. it s like a family. everyone supports each other. do you know, there s a lot of fun that happens here, and we go out and do a lot of stuff together as well, there s activity day every friday, and do a lot of walking and just people finding themselves, finding what they like. you lose all that in addiction. and she s now hoping to use her own experiences with gambling to help other people
i doubt very much you will find any ground that doesn t have some form of gambling advertising. but we also have gambling brands now sponsoring entertainment shows. and when you look at daytime television, who is your main audience there? women, yeah. gambling completely took over caroline s life. she got into debt, lost work and it destroyed her relationships. she says it got to the point that she didn t see a future any more. when you re a gambling addict, or compulsive gambler, there is no fun in it. that whole. .. fun, enjoyment goes. i mean, i have sat there in tears gambling on my phone. because i physically couldn t stop. it is a hidden addiction, it s not physical, which is why i believe it s misunderstood. how bad did things get for you mentally?
i mean, for a long time, i was never that active mum that they deserved. i loved them, you know, but i wasn t able to, i was so consumed by addiction, just little things like they were playing, i was never actively there. i was in the phone screen, gambling money. what was it like leaving your children for five weeks to come here? it s so hard being in here, and you ve got a baby at home that s poorly. and they re saying to you, i want a cuddle, and you can t. sorry. when they first start, they tend to have the doors close. harp is the manager of the centre. she has a background in psychotherapy and has worked with victims of trafficking and modern slavery, as well as people who have struggled with addiction. she and the other staff here support the women throughout their stay, which initially includes a complete detox from gambling. we limit access to phones, to the outside world, so all the stresses of the outside
proactive and want to do the right thing, but like any other industry, we will have those who need a little bit of persuasion to kind of, you know, wake up and smell the coffee and that s where the regulator has a really pivotal role to play. and i have to say the fact that you re exploring women and gambling is fantastic because everything we ve done historically is about men and gambling. so we need to start looking at this. the body which represents the industry in the uk, the betting and gaming council, told bbc news it s encouraged by the latest figures, which show rates of problem gambling among women are down on the previous year at 0.1%. they also say they ll donate more than £100 million to tackle harmful gambling. the betting and gaming council was unavailable for interview,
by setting up a support group. so it s in early stages, but there s a lot of interest from residents, which i was surprised at, because no one really spoke about gambling. but i ve brought it to attention, people are actually thinking, actually, maybe i did have a problem, and do you know, i want to raise awareness, i want.i want other people to be able to recognise before it gets too late. we check in with kaz who s getting more support for her gambling addiction. and rebecca is sharing herjourney on tiktok. i ve been doing lots of positive things. i ve celebrated 365 days gamble free, which isjust incredible. we ve been decorating our home, we ve been going on lots of days out, i ve started a newjob, which i m really, really happy in, i ve been socialising with friends.