Mick takes care of his mum Julie, 45, started using poker machines heavily just over a year ago, after the death of her husband, Steve. Julie and her son, Mick, 16, were both devastated when Steve died. Mick and Steve had been best mates always, and spent much of their free time when Mick was little out playing with go-carts and BMX bikes. Eventually they graduated to motor bikes, and on most weekends in recent years they could be found at the local motocross track with their motor bikes. Mick’s dream was to save up so he could buy a better 125cc motor bike – one good enough to race at the Phillip Island circuit. He’d had a couple of scrapes riding motocross and had decided that road racing would suit him better. The bike he was riding now had been built from all the parts he could scrounge – and really it was pretty good given it had cost him almost nothing. But he needed something better if he wanted to race seriously at a circuit like Phillip Island. When Steve was really sick and they couldn’t go out any more, Mick would bring the advertisements of motor bikes and parts for sale, and discuss them with his dad, deciding which bike to buy, and how best to customise it for racing. When Steve died, Mick pursued his dream with even greater fervour – now he was going to get the best motor bike he possibly could, and work on it until it was the best he could manage – and it would be in honour of his dad. He’d saved $7,600 already, but he needed more before he could afford the kind of bike he’d set his heart on – and the gear to go with it. Julie and Steve had been together since she was Mick’s age – 16. There had never been anyone else for either of them. They always said they were each other’s ‘perfect match’. Julie had cared for Steve pretty much around the clock in the months he’d been really sick. And when he died, she found the emptiness and loneliness overpowering. Mick was either at TAFE studying motor mechanics, or working at his part-time job at the local supermarket. He’d started off when he was younger stocking the shelves. Now he worked the till. He worked as many hours as they offered him so he could save for his motorbike. At other times, he was at his mate Geoff’s house, working on Geoff’s car. One night when Julie was home alone and there was nothing she wanted to see on the tele and she couldn’t be bothered cooking, she thought she’d just walk to the local club and get a meal and a drink. It was only a five minute walk away. It was a busy night and the waitress said it would take at least 20 minutes for her food to be ready. Julie felt self-conscious sitting at the table alone not doing anything, so she thought she’d just play the pokies until her dinner was ready. She’d had the odd game before, but never played for more than a couple of minutes. She and Steve had always preferred to talk or dance, or just go home after dinner.

So Julie went and played the pokes for 20 minutes. She put about $80 through in that time – but came away with $95 – a profit of $15! Well, she thought, that would pay for her dinner. That was the first bit of good luck that had come her way in a while, and it felt good. That evening went faster than they had gone for a long time. It was comforting to be among people, and to be reassured that life went on. She started going to the club most nights when Mick wasn’t home. The problem was, most nights she was now losing money. Julie was a very good worker, and her boss had held her job as a freight handling clerk for her while Steve was sick. Julie could manage the payments on their small flat with her income – but there was little left over for extras. Julie kept going to the club until she had gambled the $2400 she had in her savings. She tried to stay home after that – but she was so upset and angry with herself for spending her savings, she thought there had to be a way she could just at least get her losses back. She started taking money out on her credit card, and using that to gamble on the pokies. With every win she had, she hoped her luck had changed and she’d get ahead – but then she’d just start losing again. After a few weeks of playing the pokies and losing more than she won, she’d reached her limit of $5,000 on her credit card. She panicked – she didn’t know what to do. She decided she’d increase her credit card limit to $7500, just to help her get through this crisis – so that she could pay her bills – including the monthly interest charge on her credit card. But instead of paying her bills with this credit, she gambled it away. So she increased her limit again, this time to $10,000. She couldn’t stop. She gambled right to the limit. She tried to increase her credit card limit again – but this time the bank refused. She didn’t know what to do. She calculated that – just to pay the interest on her $10,000 credit card debt, would cost her $60 per fortnight. And that was just to pay the interest without even reducing the principal of the debt of $10,000. She didn’t know where she could cut back her fortnightly budget to try to find $60 each pay day. She started pawning her things and gambling the pawn money away. She pawned her jewellery, including an antique sapphire, ruby and diamond pendant that had been handed down from mother to daughter for several generations. She pawned all of it except for her wedding ring. She also pawned the television, stereo, microwave and the guitar Steve used to play. Mick realised some of what was going on – knew his mother was spending too much time and money on the pokies. He tried to talk to her about it – but she wouldn’t listen. She said it wasn’t a problem, that she had a plan, and everything would be ok in a week or two. By now she had been gambling recklessly for about six months.

One morning, after Mick had gone to tech, Julie noticed $500 on his desk. She knew it was money he had earned and was going to put into his bank account for his motorbike. She looked at it and thought – ‘Mick won’t be back for a few hours…. If I just borrow it, I can use it on the pokies and, it must be my turn to win – if I could just win a bit back, I can return Mick’s $500 before he gets home, and he won’t know I’ve borrowed it.’ She took it and was in turmoil as she raced to the club – trying to convince herself that she was ‘borrowing’ the money from Mick. After all, wouldn’t she return it if today, after all this time, she had a big win? Of course she would! But she didn’t win. And the truth is she hadn’t asked to borrow the money. And she couldn’t hide from the fact that meant she was stealing. From her own son. The person she loved most in all the world. And who’d worked so hard every spare minute to earn that money for his dream motorbike. As she fled the casino, deeply ashamed and choking back sobs, she noticed a poster: ‘G-line (NSW) problem gambling help line 1800 633 635’ She had walked past this poster hundreds of times – but this time it registered, and this time she memorised the phone number. All the way home, she repeated the number to herself so she wouldn’t forget…. 1800 633 635, 1800 633 635. When she got in the door, before even taking her coat off, she wrote the number down on the pad next to the telephone, and immediately called it. While the recorded information about privacy was playing, Julie asked herself if she was doing the right thing, then a kind voice was on the line: ‘G-line – this is Pam’. And Julie poured her whole story out. Pam listened closely and understood Julie’s situation. Julie felt immense relief at having finally told someone the whole story. Pam explained that Julie didn’t have to identify herself if she didn’t want to. It only took a few minutes for Julie to know she had made the right decision to call G-line. Pam helped Julie decide on the plan of counselling that would best help her. For Julie it was a series of sessions with a counsellor face to face and also with a financial counsellor. These services, along with others G-line could have arranged for Julie, such as group counselling sessions, were free. And all who answered G-line calls were trained health professionals, able to provide immediate help in the first instance. The first few months were the hardest. Twice, she weakened and went to the club to gamble. But then she asked the club to exclude her and to ask her to leave if she should try to enter the premises. The club agreed to help Julie in this way. For a while it seemed as though she may have to give up the flat she and Steve had bought soon after they were married. But with the help of the financial counsellor, she was able to refinance her home loan in such a way that she was able to pay off her credit card and pay Mick back the money she had taken. She then cancelled her credit card and cut it up so she couldn’t be tempted again. She drew up a tight budget and she was sticking to it. For the first six months after talking to G-line, she actually asked Mick to handle her savings account – she was so frightened that she might do the wrong thing.

Julie realised that her recovery depended on her finding fulfilling ways of spending her spare time. She looked up girlfriends she hadn’t seen since Steve got sick, and she told them what had happened. They understood and made arrangements to see each other more often. She also pulled out her old sewing machine and went through her wardrobe, fixing and altering clothes she still liked, getting rid of what she didn’t like, and making new clothes with fabric she was able to buy cheaply. Through it all, Mick stuck by his mother. He handled the household budget for the first six months; a heavy responsibility for one so young – and a real reversal of roles. She was so proud of him. She even managed to Steve’s guitar and her great grandmother’s pendant back out of the pawnshop. She’s given both to Mick now – to pass on to his own children one day. And she’s secretly working extra shifts and saving to buy Mick top quality leather motor bike gear to wear at his first big race.

* * * * * * * QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION What were some of the factors that contributed to Julie’s gambling problem? How might Julie have avoided developing a gambling addiction? What are some of the features of G-line (NSW) that enable it to help problem gamblers? What do you think the future holds for Mick? What do you think the future holds for Julie?

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