Why my period made my gambling addiction worse

Abbie Harvey's gambling addiction was so severe that she could not drive for 20 minutes without pulling over to bet - and felt the urge became worse just before and during her period.

"To get over being emotional, I would use gambling as a coping strategy," said Abbie, who lost more than £20,000 during her decade-long struggle with the addiction.

Abbie is not alone. Kiki Marriott, also a former gambling addict, noticed an increase in her gambling habits during the week before her period.

Both women have received treatment at the Parkland Place Rehabilitation Centre in north Wales, where clinical staff say they believe the menstrual cycle can have an impact on gambling behaviours.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham are now working with the Gordon Moody gambling harms charity to establish whether there is a link between hormonal fluctuations - caused by periods, ovulation, menopause and childbirth - and gambling addiction.

Warning: This article contains references to suicide

Abbie would predominantly gamble on her phone using online slots.

"The scheming, the lying, it just took over my whole life," the 34-year-old from Barry in south Wales said.

"I would do it at four o'clock in the morning, I would do it at two o'clock in the afternoon. I would wake up in the middle of the night and all I wanted to do was gamble online.

"I'd be driving home from my sister's, which is like 20 minutes away from me, and I couldn't even wait 20 minutes before pulling over and doing online slots."

The Gordon Moody gambling harms charity, which has residential treatment centres across the country, said the number of women gambling in the UK - and the number of women with gambling addictions - was at an all-time high.

Dr Rosalind Baker-Frampton, clinical director of the charity, said she had noticed women were more likely to gamble in a harmful way during a hormonal fluctuation.

"You're more likely to engage in risky behaviours around the time of ovulation, so that's when an egg is released," she said.

"That's the time you're most fertile. We also know of that before a women's period, when she's had a drop in progesterone.

"That includes things like chasing losses, spending more money than they want to spend, staying longer than they'd otherwise decide to stay.

"They end up spending more money and making more risky choices around gambling and not stopping at other points in their cycle."

The charity said its research project with the University of Birmingham would take about four years to complete.

"We're going to be looking at women who come into our treatment centre in Wolverhampton, so everyone who comes in will have the option to participate in the research," said Rosalind.

The Gambling Commission, which licences and regulates commercial gambling, has said they are "always interested in new research" to "help inform our ongoing drive to make gambling safer".

Researchers will also explore whether hormone-regulating medication could help with addiction.

"We have a theory that women who are on the pill or who are on hormone replacement therapy, because their hormones are at a more stable level throughout the month, may be less likely to experience these severe gambling cravings," Rosalind added.

Kiki said she now recognised her triggers and her likelihood to gamble during certain points of her menstrual cycle, and has a strategy for tackling them.

"For me, it's made a massive difference in how I handle situations in those particular weeks of my cycle," she said.

"I know I need to pour love into myself the week before my period, I know I have to use my tools more, I have to be around other women in recovery, I have to lean on my group."

She is encouraging further research into women's health and addiction.

"I think there's a hell of a lot more work to be done when it comes to your menstrual cycle and addiction and how that can correlate to making those bad decisions."