gamblers or at risk of becoming so. so is there enough being done by the industry to prevent addiction? i think, like any other industry, you have good, you have bad, you have ugly. i think it s fair to say some in the industry who are very 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
we are the first media outlet to gain access inside, which has taken two years to make happen, and build up the trust of women who have been through the programme. they live at the centre for five weeks and are supported by therapists 2a hours a day. it s partly funded by the gambling industry, which in the uk is required to put money into treatment services. it s a programme that deals with a multitude of different kind of issues, that somebody might be experiencing while gambling and around their kind of environmental situations. the programme aims to create a calm environment, to allow ladies to kind of detox from the gambling. we could see that the need was increasing for women to come in to service for treatment, specifically for gambling, because they were presenting with more issues, and also when they were presenting they were very much at crisis point.
so i was always in the pub, playing fruit machines, in the bookies. it wasn t until i was about 30 and i started doing it online, online slots, and itjust got out of hand rapidly. and very quickly. i was taking out payday loans, quite soon, and i kept it all secret for years from my missus. at the end it would be, if i had money in my account, i would go to work, in between every job i would be gambling. i started taking my phone into the bathroom with me when i was having a bath and things like that. so how many rooms are there upstairs. she ended up going through treatment here, at the first women s residential gambling centre based in england, which opened 18 months ago and is run by the charity gordon moody.
and obviously the referrals, for example in gordon moody, our referrals have, you know, over doubled in the past year. do you think when it comes to women, there is sometimes more secrecy and shame then perhaps with men? i think with women in particular, or anybody that kind of online gambles as well, it can be hidden a lot better because it is so accessible, it s on your phone, it s on your tablet, it s on your laptop, and you can t physically identify if somebody is actually doing that. darker colours for the gambling side. during the five weeks they do a mix of individual and group therapy, as well as creative workshops where they are encouraged to express their feelings. what does the black and grey represent to you? emptiness. . .addiction, darkness. rebecca was 19 when she first started gambling, almost a decade ago. while making this documentary, we found so many women are reluctant to appear on camera to talk about their experiences
such as anxiety or depression. in fact research tells us that when it comes to female gamblers, anxiety and depression has preceded the onset of gambling. while for men, it is often the opposite gambling comes first and then anxiety or depression follows. so it is quite common for women to use gambling to numb feelings, to escape from feelings, and what i have seen in my therapy sessions with female gamblers is they are much more interested in talking about relationships that have not been healthy or helpful in their lives, and more interested in talking about their emotions, they experience strong emotions. in april, the uk government published its long awaited report into the gambling industry and the way it s regulated. it s proposed financial checks for people who lose large amounts of money in a short period of time and a limit on spending online,