I am a 38 year old mother of a beautiful 16 month old girl. I have a partner who treats me like a queen and has no idea of my addiction. I became addicted to VLTs over 10 years ago. Everytime I get in and out of a financial pickle, I make a vow to quit once and for all. The longest I have gone without gambling is 4 months.

Margaret Alice Baldwin's gambling addiction started in 1994 when she innocently placed a loonie into a vlt (video lottery terminal machine). Between 1994 and 2007, Margaret, who is now 62, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the vlt machines. She was a former military nurse who is currently serving a five year sentence for robbing a bank.

"'I don't know why you are so excited, you lost over $3,000 before you won that $300,'" a bartender had told her.

Hello Everyone

Hello all!

I had no experience with it until 4 years ago - within a span of 3 months, my boyfiend passed away suddenly and I lost my home and everything in it due to an oil spill. So I had no companion, no "home", no memories (the things in the home that we often take for granted), and no independence. I had to go live with friends and spend all of my money on lawyers to fight the insurance company over the oil spill. It was months into this horrid state of affairs that my doctor diagnosed depression, and prescribed medication to help me cope.