Women ‘can end up as gambling addicts because of online games’

Therapist Liz Karter treats an increasing number of lawyers, doctors and bankers for online gambling problems
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Rehema Figueiredo16 November 2015

A therapist who specialises in treating women with gambling problems warned today how easy it is to slip from playing online games on the daily commute into developing an addiction.

Liz Karter, founder of Level Ground Therapy in Cannon Street, treats dozens of women a month and said technology is making it easier to fall into secret addiction — with even non-gambling games such as Candy Crush leading to those involving betting. “You can do it in the office, on the commute, on your tablet — not just at home. It’s so easy to hide now,” she said.

Ms Karter described one 38-year-old banker who began playing games on her phone on the Tube and in nine months had racked up £15,000 of debt through online gambling. “She used to play Candy Crush on the commute home and thought gambling games would not be much different as they looked and sounded the same,” said the therapist.

“She liked the sense of going into another world that she got when gambling.” The addiction grew until the mother-of-two found herself gambling on her computer at work while her bosses believed she was writing reports. When her credit card was declined she borrowed cash from her mother and took out payday loans. Her husband eventually found her bank statements and she sought help.

Ms Karter said many addicts were un-aware of the sums they spent: “One said, ‘Can you believe how much they’re selling a cup of coffee over the road for?’ but admitted she would have spent £270 on a slot machine with no thought.”

Ms Karter, who opened her clinic in 2010, said 65 per cent of her clients are now teachers, lawyers, doctors and bankers: “The demographics are changing. Three or four years ago it was women on an average or lower income, single parents. Now there are more middle-class professionals and they are crippled by guilt.”

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She said three quarters of her clients also suffer depression or anxiety: “We are in a position now where women are expected to be high achievers, good at work, look perfect, be a supportive wife and super mum — to be all things to all people.”

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