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Abbie Harvey struggled with a gambling addiction so intense that she often had to stop driving just minutes into her journey to place bets. She noticed that her compulsion to gamble intensified around certain times of her menstrual cycle. “To get over being emotional, I would use gambling as a coping strategy,” Abbie explained, reflecting on the decade-long battle during which she lost over £20,000. Her experience is not unique, as Kiki Marriott, another woman who faced gambling addiction, also observed a spike in her gambling tendencies during the week before her period.
Both Abbie and Kiki sought help at Parkland Place Rehabilitation Centre in north Wales. The clinical team there has observed that hormonal changes linked to the menstrual cycle can influence gambling behaviours in women. Supporting this observation, researchers from the University of Birmingham are collaborating with the Gordon Moody charity to investigate whether hormonal fluctuations due to menstruation, ovulation, menopause, and childbirth may be connected to gambling addiction.
Abbie’s gambling was mostly conducted on her mobile phone via online slot games. She described how the addiction permeated her entire life, saying, “The scheming, the lying, it just took over my whole life.” Her gambling urges struck unpredictably, occurring at all hours — even causing her to pull over during a 20-minute drive to gamble. Similarly, Kiki found herself gambling obsessively, sometimes for over a full day until funds were exhausted. The addiction led her to dark places; she recounted, “I didn’t care whether I lived or died. It was like a slow and painful death,” and described thoughts of suicide during her lowest point.
Parkland Place, a 16-bed rehabilitation facility run by the Adferiad charity in Colwyn Bay, focuses on addiction treatment including gambling, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Cheryl Williams, the centre’s manager, highlighted the difficulties women face in committing to rehabilitation programs, noting that many are primary caregivers or feel societal stigma. She also confirmed that their team observes an increase in gambling behaviour among women as they approach their menstrual cycle. The Gordon Moody charity, which runs several residential treatment centres, reports that gambling among women and the incidence of female gambling addiction are at record levels. Dr. Rosalind Baker-Frampton, the charity’s clinical director, pointed out that hormonal phases, such as ovulation and periods when progesterone drops, correspond with increased risky gambling behaviours.
The ongoing research collaboration aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between female hormonal cycles and gambling addiction. This study, which will run over four years, includes women who enter treatment at the charity’s Wolverhampton centre, giving them the option to participate. Investigators will also explore whether hormone-stabilizing treatments like contraceptive pills or hormone replacement therapy might reduce the severity of gambling cravings. Kiki, now aware of her cyclical triggers, has developed coping strategies to manage her urges during vulnerable periods, saying, “For me, it’s made a massive difference in how I handle situations in those particular weeks of my cycle.” She emphasizes the need for more research into the links between women’s health and addiction, advocating for greater attention to how menstrual cycles may influence decision-making in addictive behaviours
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