Mother careless her whole life married to a gambling addict
Warning: This story contains elements of violence that may cause concern
Like many young women of the 1970s who dreamed of getting married and having children, Kelly Delaney quickly married the first suitable guy who came along.
Kelly, whose real name has been changed to protect her family’s privacy, left home at the age of 16 to escape a stressful home life with an alcoholic mother.
He rented a small apartment while working in a pharmacy.
At 18, shy and looking to find someone to share her life with, Kelly was thrilled when a co-worker set her up on a blind date with an addict. A lonely 24-year-old he calls “Luke”.
After a congenial first date, the new relationship turned into an engagement.
With the promise of a married future together, Kelly ignored Luke’s seemingly harmless hobby of betting on horses and greyhounds.
He even endured a dependent relationship with his mother, who accompanied him to the races every Saturday to bet on the horses.
Kelly was 16 years old when she left home. (Credit: Kelly Delaney)
“I think when I meditated, I was naive, and I was very young and immature at the time, and I longed to find true happiness,” he said.
“I was always sure that once we got married, that would change.”
Control and deception
Luke convinced Kelly to leave his apartment and they moved back in with his mother to “save” the marriage and the house.
The couple married in the early 1980s.
Kelly had to rent a wedding dress for her big day. (Credit: Kelly Delaney)
But despite their efforts to save, there was still not enough money to buy a ring, hold a proper engagement party or buy a new wedding dress.
The newlyweds would spend most of their Queensland honeymoon waiting in the car while Luke gambled at TABs along the way.
Luke then insisted that he set up a joint bank account and manage the couple’s finances.
Kelly said: “Every time I worked, the money had to go into his account, or ‘our account’ and when they were combined, there was nothing left.
“I don’t see the sentences.
“Because my husband was working in a bank he said, ‘I’d better deal with finances.’
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It was a time when people got their accounts through bank books, deposit and withdrawal slips and cheques.
Kelly was given a two-week stipend of $120 for food, clothing and household expenses.
They were able to buy land after two years to build a house in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Mma Lukas moved to the apartment at the back.
“We would have bad times, then good times, then things would get worse again, and then I would be told I would have to go out and get a job, even though I was raising children and -so,” he said.
Kelly said she would be tasked with dealing with “red letters” in the mail and negotiating an extension of overdue payments while Luke quietly drained their account to fuel his gaming addiction. of money.
Kelly thought that getting married and having children would equal happiness. (Credit: Kelly Delaney)
To save face
Kelly would always tell outsiders that there was nothing wrong with maintaining Luke’s reputation as a respectable banker.
He said people who knew him thought he was a “wonderful man”.
Playing the role of dinner party guest, wife and mother to Luke’s friends and colleagues at the bank, Kelly wouldn’t tell anyone her secret.
It was only until one night, his gambling brought them to the brink of collapse, that he would understand the true predicament they were in.
“The fact that I had been lied to for so many years was amazing, it was amazing,” he said.
Kelly suggested good health to friends and colleagues. (Credit: Kelly Delaney)
Luke worked as a banker during the day and cleaned at night after he promised to stop gambling, take a second job and fix their situation.
He eventually got a promotion as a bank manager in the 1990s which required Luke, Kelly and their three children to move to Gippsland.
Things were going well for Luke in his new job.
He bought a new suit and satchel, went on frequent business trips, paid bills on time, bought new toys for the children and took the family on holiday to the Gold Coast.
But the family stopped in the car on the road when he stopped at TAB to drop the bets.
Their luxury home was conveniently located across from the new Jupiter casino.
It became clear that Luke was still gambling.
All the holidays revolved around taking the kids to theme parks during the day so they could go to the casino in the evening.
He said: “It was easy for me not to offend or bite the bear because when I did bite it, it got very angry.
“On the rare occasions when I questioned his behavior he could be very violent and I was scared of that.”
Kelly ran away from home to start a new life. (Credit: Kelly Delaney)
Kelly decided it ‘had to end’ after a credit card bill from another bank addressed to Luke accidentally arrived at the family.
Insisting that he had gambled with the couple’s money, Luke threatened to take the children and destroy her financially if she left him.
He also threatened to kill himself if he said a word about his endless gambling to anyone.
A clear scam
Kelly ran away from home after a violent incident one night.
She slept in her car before finding refuge in a women’s shelter.
With no money, he hid his enemies and started a cleaning job that allowed him to pay for a small house to rent.
Luke, who had taken custody of the children with his mother, eventually agreed to divorce.
Kelly was able to create an independent life for herself, studying to be a nurse and seeing her children around.
Kelly enjoyed her independence after breaking up with Luke. (Credit: Kelly Delaney)
Police turned up at Kelly’s door on March 29, 2000, to inform him that a body had been found in a car in a pine grove, off the Hyland Highway, 10 kilometers east of Traralgon.
The forest staff had seen Luke’s car at 4pm the previous day but thought nothing of it.
They raised the alarm while the car was still there at 6.45am the next day.
Luke had killed himself.
Kelly said her husband’s death sparked a criminal investigation that would eventually uncover a sophisticated loan scheme in which he created more than 200 fake account names to defraud more than $7 million from employers. his.
Kelly said the Sale police investigating the case found that during his “business trips”, Luke frequented casino rooms for high rollers, slept with women bang, and joined the Asian gambling club.
It was only after his death that Kelly learned that her husband was having an affair with a bank employee in another town.
The ABC contacted the Coroner’s Court of Victoria who released a copy of the police report into Luke’s death.
It confirmed that Luke had quit his long-term job six weeks before his death and started a financial business with two friends.
The report states that friends and family did not consider Luke to be depressed but that he had visited his doctor the week of her death and was “somewhat concerned about his daughter’s well-being his, and his new financial arrangement related to his life. business”.
He was given sleeping pills and died five days later.
Memoir of a gambling woman
Kelly shielded her children from the truth of Luke’s past after his death.
She worked in health care and eventually remarried, finding happiness with a supportive husband who she said was a wonderful role model for her children.
Kelly was able to put the drama of her first marriage behind her. (It is given)
Now a grandmother, Kelly has written a memoir as a gambling addict for her first book, A Game of Chance.
Writing under the pseudonym Kelly Delaney, she hoped her story would open up discussions about the dangers of gambling and educate young people about the dangers of gambling, especially in the age of gambling. instant smart phone betting.
“If one person gets something good out of this, then I’m happy, because hopefully less women will go through these kinds of experiences or have more faith to stand up and say something,” she said. said so.
Kelly Delaney spoke about her husband under the pseudonym Luke to protect her privacy and that of their children.
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