Good to hear that im not alone! I wish that i could just tell my husband or anyone in my family, or a friend. Its just a little more complicated than it seems in my case. I know for a fact that my family and my husband + family thinks that gambling addictions arent real, not even substance abuse of any kind. According to them any addict is just a stupid weak person and that you just decide if you want to quit or not. Therefore at this point i think that telling them would make the situation worse for me. As you say – if someone had known before or had bailed me out or showed concern about my gambling things would be different.
Unfortunately i have been too good at hiding my problem. When my addiction speaks i have the best poker face and can make up brilliant stories as of why i have spent crazy amounts of money. I have done crazy things to hide my problem and lied, lied lied. Like i told hen, i got caught once like 7 years ago and i had only played for a small amount that time. My husband got so mad and dissapointed, i dont even think he realised i already had a problem, that i just made a stupid move. I promised to never do it again and since then we have never adressed the issue. I dont really know how the groups work here but i would love to join as i cant go to any local ones cause of my job.
Hope you are good:)