Every week gamblers lose $1 million on poker machines in the regional Victorian city of Ballarat.
For Buninyong resident Daniel Irwin, gambling regularly over more than two decades led him to lose his job, his family, his home and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Jan, who does not want her surname to be used, spent 27 years covering up her husband's unrelenting gambling addiction, which decimated her self-worth.
Experts say these stories are not uncommon and regional communities are hit hardest, with up to six people affected by one person's problem gambling.
Gambling Harm Awareness Week is bringing devastating stories like these to the spotlight and encouraging others to question whether gambling is affecting their well-being.
It started with an innocent bet
Mr Irwin remembers his first experience gambling. He was a 16-year-old cricket player and joined teammates who were placing bets on the spring racing carnival.
It seemed normal — everyone in the cricket and football club was doing it — but a few sports bets on and off throughout the year quickly became a 25-year addiction.
Mr Irwin said his addiction worsened, particularly when he stopped playing football. He filled the extra spare time with sports betting and would find money to gamble with wherever he could.
"I would do anything; moving money, taking it off the house loan," he said.
"It was bad already but then I became a recluse and it got way out of control.
"I didn't spend time with my family [and] friends I ignored … I was just not a nice person to be around."
Mr Irwin said a new job gave him more money to gamble with and his all-consuming addiction came to a head when he and his wife tried to buy another house.
"The bank said, 'There is no way with your record. We are not giving you any money,'" he said.
"Within a month I lost everything. I lost my job and got kicked out of the family home."
Mr Irwin said his first step in recovery was to reveal his secret addition to his close inner circle of friends, as his counsellor had advised.
"As a gambler, we are the best liars in the world," he said.
"You lie to everybody; work, family, the banks … to let friends in onto exactly what I had done was a weight off my shoulders."
Mr Irwin started volunteering in a peer support program for gambling recovery. He now shares his story through public talks.
He is passionate about educating young people in sporting clubs about gambling harm and wants to see restrictions on gambling advertising.
"I went to a football club reunion only recently. When the guys came off the ground the first thing they did was grab their phone and see how their bets went for the day," Mr Irwin said.
"It is such an integrated thing. It is normalised."
Mr Irwin says communities need to have more open conversations about gambling harm to move away from the shame and secretive behaviour that prevents people from seeking help.
Leading a 'double life'
Jan struggled alone for almost 30 years, keeping her husband's gambling addiction a secret and living in a constant state of fear and heightened emotion.
Ultimately, it ended their marriage and Jan started her own journey of recovery.
"Gambling had us on a rollercoaster. We both lived a double life," she said.
"I thought I could manage our double life while he was changing his ways.
"I was forever hopeful, but really I was just waiting in the wings and the gambling never went away."
One day Jan returned home from a stay in hospital for an injury and, while yelling in a rage at her husband, she realised it was not just him who was out of control.
"I realised my life, like the gambler, was very unmanageable," she said.
"My behaviour was not okay. Normal people didn't act like me and I had to do something about it."
Jan switched from trying to "fix" her husband, to focusing on helping herself.
She felt empowered by the help of gamblers' support programs and counsellors and realised that she had played a role in her husband's gambling addiction.
"I paid debts and loans and covered for him — always with the hope maybe this would be the last time," Jan said.
"He created the crisis and I cleaned up the mess.
"I was enabling him to keep gambling even though I thought I was helping.
"My biggest hurdle and [the] biggest lesson was I had to accept, without any ifs or buts, I could not control or change the gambling behaviour. The only person I could change was myself."
While they both were recovering from their addictions, Jan and Mr Irwin drew strength from others' stories of recovery. They want to do the same to give hope to others.
Preventing gambling harm
Meanwhile, community agencies in Ballarat are taking a public health approach to gambling.
John Bradshaw from Child and Family Services (CAFS) visits schools to educate young people about financial literacy and gambling harm, with a focus on advertising, sports betting and online gaming.
His colleague Saniya Goriawala provides therapy for people affected by gambling and hears their sadness, shame, guilt and self-criticism daily.
She sees vulnerable people, often with a history of trauma or disadvantage, stuck in the cycle of addiction and says it's devastating.
While online gaming and sports betting are a big focus in prevention work for CAFS, financial losses through poker machines remain a major concern.
Clear location expenditure data makes the impact easier to quantify.
Gamblers lost $53.65 million to poker machines in Ballarat in the 2021–22 financial year, according to the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission.
Experts are continuing calls for regulatory change to reduce harm, including a maximum bet, reduction in pokies opening hours and advance set spending limits.
