Hi again Laura,
Learn that lesson. This is a gambling addiction, once we cut off our normal “drug of choice” it’s easy for teh addiction to switch to another form of gambling. Scratch cards themselves can become a problem or of course any small to medium win can give us thoughts of “my lucks in today” etc which can be a big trigger.
I was going to post to you anyway about support you might want to use. You will probably have read about Gamblers Anonymous here, which could help you with your own addiction, but have you heard of Al Anon? It’s a support group for family and friends of alcoholics. You could get support there from people going throught the same sort of thing you go through with your mother. You might find that useful.
Keep posting