[wdfifteen]

One of our new friends came over, all weepy and want to talk to MrsWD. Over the 2 years we've lived here she and her husband have become friends, not really close friends but we talk and help each other a lot. She revealed that Mr Neighbor is a gambling addict.
I saw signs, but I only realized what they meant in retrospect. I knew Mr Neighbor drove an hour down to a river casino in Indiana about once a month. I didn't think anything about it. I have a hobby of betting on football games.
She's a fairly high earner and he is unemployed, and I thought it odd that they do not commingle their money (he has his and she has hers). Being unemployed and broke I've seen him ask her for money to buy a pack of cigarettes. A pack is $7 and change and she gives him $8. Why not give him $100 a week or something and let him manage his own money? Now I know why.
Turns out the guy is an addict, spending money he doesn't have on playing cards in the casino. She laid out a list of things he's done to get money over the years - selling stuff, stealing stuff, selling stuff and claiming it was stolen to collect the insurance, etc. Every time he gets a few bucks he heads to the casino and blows it or hits big and goes back the next week and blows it. This year when doing her taxes she learned he cashed in a $17000 IRA early without telling her and blew it all at the casino. Tax and penalty was nearly $6000. That's a $6k hit that she had not budgeted for. She is pretty upset, but says this is just another episode in a long history of his stupid behavior. She's a good woman and I used to think the was a good man - I don't know what to think of him now. I used to like gambling myself, and taking $1000 to Vegas with my friends once a year was a fun vacation for me. I still bet on line on football during the season. It's fun if you stay within your budget, but I don't understand the addiction part.