Kiki Marriott wasn’t buying food. She didn’t have gas to heat her home.
But she made sure she always had electricity and wi-fi, because that was the only way she could keep gambling online.
Now in recovery, Kiki says her gambling addiction didn’t just spiral randomly. It intensified at very specific points in her menstrual cycle, particularly in the days leading up to her period.
“I would do anything to enable myself to gamble,” said the 40-year-old from Woolwich. “Food shopping stopped. Heating stopped. But I needed electric and wi-fi, because I needed to gamble.”
Kiki’s story isn’t an isolated one. Across the UK, women are speaking up about how hormonal changes linked to periods, ovulation, menopause and even childbirth may be fuelling compulsive gambling, especially in a world where casinos live in our pockets.
Now, academics and a leading gambling harms charity are investigating whether there is a direct biological link between hormonal fluctuations and gambling addiction in women, research that could change how addiction is understood and treated.
“The week before my period was the worst”
For Kiki, the pattern became impossible to ignore.
“The week before my period, my impulsivity and compulsive behaviours just went through the roof,” she said. “That’s when I made my worst decisions.”
She believes hormonal shifts affected her judgement, increasing risk-taking and making it harder to stop once she started gambling.
“I genuinely think there’s a big connection between poor decision-making and where you are in your menstrual cycle.”
Her addiction reached what she calls a “catastrophic” breaking point when she stole a large sum of money from her former partner to gamble. The emotional toll became unbearable.
Kiki told the BBC her addiction left her feeling suicidal.
“I didn’t care if I lived or died,” she said. “I used to pray to die. I just wanted it to stop.”
At her lowest point, she wrote goodbye letters, before making a call that saved her life: GamCare’s National Gambling Helpline.
“That call changed everything,” she said. “I realised my death would cause more harm and I couldn’t do that.”
“I couldn’t even drive 20 minutes without gambling”
Abbie Harvey, 34, knows that feeling all too well.
Her gambling addiction became so intense she couldn’t drive for 20 minutes without pulling over to place bets on her phone. Like Kiki, Abbie noticed her urges spiked just before and during her period.
“To cope with my emotions, I used gambling,” said Abbie, who lost more than £20,000 over a decade.
Online slots became her escape and her prison.
“I’d gamble at four in the morning, two in the afternoon. I’d wake up in the night just to gamble,” said the mum from Barry, south Wales. “The lying, the scheming it took over my whole life.”
Both women received treatment at Parkland Place Rehabilitation Centre in north Wales, where staff say they’ve repeatedly observed a link between menstrual cycles and gambling behaviours.
What clinicians are noticing and why it matters
“We’ve absolutely seen gambling increase just before a woman’s cycle begins,” said Cheryl Williams, manager at Parkland Place. “We factor that into their care.”
Run by the Adferiad gambling charity, the centre supports people with gambling, drug and alcohol addiction, yet only one in four patients are women.
Stigma, caregiving responsibilities and shame often keep women from seeking help.
“But that role as ‘homemaker’ is only a fraction of their life,” Cheryl said. “Compared to what gambling takes from them.”
Dr Rosalind Baker-Frampton, clinical director at gambling harms charity Gordon Moody, says hormonal shifts may help explain why women gamble more harmfully at certain times.
“Risk-taking behaviours increase around ovulation,” she explained. “And before a period, when progesterone drops, we see more chasing losses, spending more than intended, and staying longer than planned.”
In response, Gordon Moody has partnered with researchers at the University of Birmingham to study the hormonal-addiction link over the next four years.
They’ll also explore whether hormone-regulating medication, like the pill or HRT, could help reduce severe gambling cravings.
“If hormones are more stable, cravings may be less extreme,” Dr Rosalind said.
Why this research is long overdue
The Gambling Commission has welcomed the research, saying it could help inform safer gambling policies. Meanwhile, charities say the number of women affected by gambling addiction is at an all-time high, yet support systems still largely centre men.
For Kiki, understanding her cycle has been life-changing.
“I now know my triggers,” she said. “The week before my period, I pour love into myself. I use my tools. I lean on other women in recovery.”
Her message is clear: women’s biology cannot keep being ignored.
“There’s so much more work to be done around addiction and the menstrual cycle,” she said. “These aren’t just ‘bad decisions’. There’s more going on.”
