Breaking the Cycle: One Woman’s Fight Against Gambling

Gambling is a huge part of Australian life, with risky behavior leading to losses totaling around $31 billion each year. While men, particularly young men, are increasingly drawn to online sports betting for the excitement, problem gambling among women over 55 is on the rise. 

Many older women gamble for social reasons, including boredom, loneliness, or simply for a safe, well-lit space to be around others.

Ann Palin, now 64, has lived this reality and managed to overcome it. In 2005, she realised her visits to the Burswood casino were no longer just a pastime, but a problem she couldn’t shake.

“Everything Was Enjoyable About It.”

“I was powerless over it and I didn’t care how much time I spent there,” Ann told Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth. “Everything was enjoyable about it. The fact that it was an escape, the lights, it stopped me thinking about what was going on in my life.”

Ann tried to quit multiple times by self-excluding herself from casinos, but each time she ended up back on the gaming floor. The woman who last gambled earlier this year is confident she has finally broken the cycle.

“What ultimately led to me stopping was that I realised what was wrong was never going to be fixed with the press of a gaming machine. And that was really quite a profound moment for me.”

Ann grew up in a family where gambling was normal. “Gambling for me was always there. I was multi-generational. Gambling from my grandparents, my uncles, especially my father,” she said. “It was in our classrooms at school, on the TV…even on my grandparents’ lawn.” 

By 18, Ann was employed in a registered club in New South Wales, and gambling was simply part of life.

“I Became Reckless.”

Her active gambling began in earnest in the late 1990s when she moved to Western Australia. By 2005, the habit had taken over. She spent long hours at the casino, often moving straight from work shifts to the gaming floor. 

“I became reckless and I would virtually didn’t care,” she recalled. For Ann, the social aspect was also a draw. However, she kept her struggles secret from family and friends, weighed down by guilt and shame. After years of cycles of gambling and stopping, led by “hope” and “anticipation”, she finally had a moment of clarity that changed everything.

Ann Lobbies for Lifetime Bans

“You win, you think you can leave, sometimes you do. As the journey goes on, I found I couldn’t.  It took me to bankruptcy but then it also taught me that there is a way out. You can get control of it but financially it can ruin you and it can cripple you and it is so detrimental.”

When asked how much she had lost over the years, Ann said: “I don’t think you have to have thousands and be a millionaire, I think you can have problematic gambling and gamble and live week to week but then it becomes harder and harder and harder and then you go for more, try and get yourself out of the hole.”

“You say ‘If I win, everything will be alright’ but that’s not the answer.” 

In December 2027, which is the newly extended term for implementation, new city regulations will set the exact amount of time people can spend gambling at Crown Casino with the help of a card. 

“If you’re on a machine for three hours, then you get kicked off, you have to have a 15 minute break and then you can come back on again. You can’t gamble for more than 12 hours in a 24 hour period and you can’t gamble for more than 28 hours in a week.

Crown Casino talks a lot about self-exclusion. They have these lovely little rooms that you can go in and speak to a counselor and have a Kit Kat and a cup of coffee and self-exclude.”, explained Mitsopoulos.

“I actually asked for a life ban at Crown, so that will be interesting to see how that comes into play. I had one year, two years, three years as the option.”, Ann explained. 

“You definitely cannot do it on your own. You have to get help, you have to get educated and you need tools to survive.”, she added.