Julie Martin

Hi, I am what you would call an affected other. I've never been a gambler myself, but in my 25-year marriage, my husband gambled heavily over multiple years on and off. Sadly at the age of 50, my marriage is now over and I divorced my husband after he went into a spiral of online gambling during lockdown that caused us yet another 10's of thousands of pounds in debt and losing all of our savings.

 

It was not only the money that mattered but his moods and behaviour when gambling. His verbal, mental and sometimes physical abuse has given me many years of mental health problems. Not even considering how he has also affected the lives of our two precious children 21 and 17.

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After researching online I found a wonderful podcast called All Bets Are Off and with Chris, Kish and Ryan's help to tell my story have now become heavily involved with helping other charities and affected others and am very proud to be part of the Gambling Harm UK team.