Gripped by Gambling

Abstract

As very few first person narratives have been written about women’s experience of problem gambling, Gripped by Gambling by Marilyn Lancelot is like a flower blooming in a desert. The opening words, “Please, not in front of my grandson”, spoken to the police as they are about to handcuff her, capture the anguish and pain that Marilyn’s few short years of gambling have created in her life. With candor and clarity Marilyn takes her readers through years of struggling with multiple addictions, putting each to bed only to have another pop up like a weasel in a midway game. The book unravels a childhood history of family alcoholism and abuse, her empty marriage, alcoholism, life as a single mother, the tragic loss of her second husband, and a series of relationships over the years. The book takes us with her into a two-year prison sentence, at the age of 60, for embezzling $300,000 from her employer.