Sharon Who Stole from Her Daughter’s Piggy Bank

 

Sharon has struggled with gambling addiction since 1992. Pokies have played a core role in her addiction. She became a victim of circumstances with video poker machines introduced to her local pub and even though she found them boring and even “stupid” at first.

One night she came back home and had an argument with her husband about something she wasn’t really sure she remembered. And so, she returned to the pokies bar to sort of “brush it off,” as it was the only place where it was socially acceptable to go on your own anyway.

After a short session, she won $190 off pokies, and Sharon was amazed that the games would actually allow you to win money. This is how most gambling addiction stories begin, with a simple win.

From there on in, Sharon decided to make pokies her full-time job, and she’d spent the next five weeks after that faithful argument playing, trying to maybe avoid work because pokies were there as a substitute.

By 1995-1996, Sharon did start hearing about people losing their savings, maxing out their credit cards, and even having their homes repossessed. As Sharon’s addiction worsened, her husband left, and she felt relieved, as she didn’t have to sneak around so often.

At the height of her addiction, Sharon argued, her husband didn’t matter. Her friends? Her own children? None of them mattered. Sharon only had one purpose – feed the beast, but with AU$0.85 cents left in her bank account, that was a monumental task, so she went to her daughter’s room one night and took away her Piggy Bank savings.

Upon exiting the room, her daughter woke up, scaring Sharon and causing her to drop the money. She ran to the garage and sat there until her daughter followed with the pennies she had collected from among the shattered Piggy Bank pieces and gave them over to her mom, who was off to the pokie machines once again.