By Dr. Gbonjubola Abiri

Last week, I heard two stories about gambling. Both carried the same painful message: gambling addiction can take a person much further than they ever imagined they would go.
The first woman lost her job after money and office equipment including a car and laptop. The losses ran into millions.

When there was no money left to repay what had been taken, the matter became a police case. Her family had to be involved. Interestingly, they were not completely unaware that she gambled. What they had not anticipated was the scale to which the gambling had progressed.
That is often how addiction works. The behaviour may begin innocently enough: “Let me stake this small amount.” Then comes another bet to recover the money lost. Then borrowing. Then hiding transactions. Then lying. Then using money meant for something else.
And before long, the person is no longer gambling for entertainment. They are gambling because they feel they have to.
The second story was even more disturbing.
A young man had developed such a strong dependence on gambling that he began donating his blood in exchange for money. Whenever he needed funds to gamble, he would donate again.
Eventually, he went to a facility where people were collecting blood for money without appropriate medical safeguards. His blood count was not properly assessed. During one of the donations, he collapsed.
He was rushed to the hospital and was found to have severe anaemia, with his condition so serious that there was concern about impending heart failure.
Think about that for a moment.
A young man was literally giving away part of his own body to finance a gambling habit.
This is why we need to stop talking about gambling addiction as simply a matter of poor financial decisions or lack of discipline.
When gambling becomes compulsive, the consequences can affect finances, relationships, employment, physical health and even the law. People may sell belongings, borrow repeatedly, steal, lie, neglect responsibilities or engage in increasingly desperate behaviours to obtain money.
And families often see the signs before they see the crisis.
Repeated borrowing. Secretive financial transactions. Unexplained debts. Constant talk about winning back losses. Betting with money meant for essentials. Irritability when unable to gamble. Chasing losses. Selling possessions. Asking several people for money.
These are not things to simply laugh off as “he enjoys football betting” or “she likes to play.”
Gambling addiction is a mental health and public health concern. It deserves early recognition, compassionate intervention and professional help.
Because the question is not always, “How much are they gambling?”
Sometimes the more important question is:
“What are they willing to lose to keep gambling?”
By the time the answer becomes a job, a relationship, someone’s trust, their health, or their freedom, we may already be looking at the consequences of an addiction that needed attention much earlier.
Remember there is no health without mental health.

Dr. Gbonjubola Abiri is a consultant Psychiatrist, Associate Lecture and Mental Health Advocate