As told to Sarah Namirembe
I never had the slightest interest in gambling until about five years ago. Infact, had you asked me then, I would have told you that gambling was a complete waste of time and money.
I’m a 34-year-old married man living happily with my wife and two kids, aged 12 and 9. Other than the occasional sports betting, I had never thought of gambling.

How did I get into such a mess?
It all started innocently. Five years ago, my wife was involved in a bad accident, and I used to take her to lots of workouts and physiotherapy. It was tedious for it involved lots of sitting around, watching and waiting. One Saturday, I got an idea of waiting from a casino not far from the hospital. A co-worker of mine had mentioned that he had just won Shs3.5m from a casino. At that time, money was a little tight at home, and while winning Shs3.5m would have helped us out a lot with our expenses, I knew that it wouldn’t change our world.
I went to the casino and took a look around. The number of people there surprised me – I actually had to wait for a free machine. I had no idea how to operate the machine, so I sat down and played with a few buttons. The person at the next machine helped me. I told him that I liked card games, and he leaned over, punched a few buttons and a video poker game came up on the screen.
I popped in Shs50,000 and started playing a Shs1,000 at a time, but nothing much happened – I won a few bets and lost a lot more. The guy beside me said he couldn’t help but notice I was only playing Shs1,000 at a time. He said that it’s impossible to win the big prizes if you bet that small, adding that since it was early in the day, the machine likely needed a “warm up” to get it paying. I found this quite funny at the time, but after he left I bumped up my bet to Shs5,000 and gave it a whirl. Wouldn’t you know it – the machine started handing me money until I was up to about Shs1m. Just then, my cell phone rang …. it was my wife saying she was finished at the hospital. I mumbled something about running into a friend at the mall and said I’d be right over.
During the drive to pick her up, I had a few thoughts and feelings swirling around in my head. The first was a smug feeling … I had Shs1m in bills bulging in my wallet. The second was guilt about the first little white lie I had told my wife. Third was the thought that I should keep the whole thing from my wife, partly because she was even more opposed to gambling than I was.
I stayed away from the machines for a few weeks – mostly because I was feeling a little embarrassed about how easy it had been to lie to my wife and to keep the whole thing from her. One day, though, my friends and I went to a bar for a football game, and we each threw in Shs20,000 to play a machine. The money went in a flash, and we all left the lounge. I made a quick circuit around the block, went back into the lounge and found the same machine we had all been playing. I was thinking the machine was probably due to pay now, partly because of the haphazard way my buddies had been playing earlier. Not 20 minutes later, I cashed out Shs1.5m! That money helped me pay off some nasty bills, and
again I laid low on the machines. It felt like I had stumbled upon a little secret, but was unsure of what really to make of it.
Understand that I’m just a normal guy, and I didn’t become a gambling addict right then. Little by little, I started to play more, sometimes after work, other times when I was waiting for my wife’s therapy sessions, or daughter’s practices to finish. The fact was that gambling was ridiculously easy to hide. I actually jumped at the chance to chauffeur the kids anywhere because it gave me a good chance to play.
I think I crossed the line when I was at my brother’s place one day. I was half listening to my sister-in-law’s chatter when I felt a strong urge to play. I made an excuse about needing to get home to help my son with his homework. I remember the feeling of relief when I sat down, anticipating a nice payday. After all, I had witnessed enough “bad” play from slot machine players to know how to get any machine to pay. This night, though, the gambling gods left me on my own, and all my previous “knowledge” seemed to be no good. Five ATM visits and almost Shs4m later, I left. Five hours had gone by.
Unfortunately, my wife had called my brother’s place, only to discover that I had left hours ago. I told her the first truly gigantic whopper lie of my life – that I’d left to attend a going-away lunch for a co-worker. My wife believed the whole story, and I knew it was very unlikely that she would check it out.
I do the banking in the family, so the Shs4m was something only I would be aware of. To say I was disgusted with what I’d done was an understatement, and I swore I’d never let it happen again. The only problem was getting back the Shs4m. I stayed away from slot machines completely for two weeks, giving myself time to cool off and figure out how to make a quick hit on the machines. I would then put the whole thing behind me. I had made some bad decisions on the machine that night and thought I would be a lot smarter next time.
I planned my next gambling “affair” with military precision. I took only cash with me, and I had a believable excuse for a six to seven hour departure from home. I was determined to study the machines so I could decide the right time and the right machine to use to recover the loss. I had also decided in advance how much I could lose and was determined not to get too greedy: if I got up Shs1.5m, I’d get out. You can probably predict the result. I actually did get up Shs2m, and then I switched machines and decided to go for it all. Needless to say, the luck left me and the Shs2m was lost, along with another Shs3.5m. I actually snuck home while everyone was sleeping, grabbed my debit card and went back to get a cash advance. I lost it all. Frustration checked in and I started drinking alcohol heavily. Fights at home, Oh my God life became hell!
You can see the nasty situation I’m in now – down almost Shs30m, and my wife thinks everything’s fine. The rest of the story is the same old thing over and over again – I promise myself that I won’t gamble, and then I break the promise again and again. The only problem is that now my wife is talking about a trip. I’m avoiding the discussion because there is no money.
I could, of course, confess the whole thing and probably risk losing my wife and family. I have gone to different pastors .Or perhaps I could go to one of those meetings where you drink coffee and talk. I’ve never been one to complain about my problems, especially when I’m the one who created this mess. I am not a bad person; I don’t know how things have gone so wrong.