Summary
When 18-year-old Stacey Goodwin got a job at a bookies, she put a pound coin into a slot machine and won enough money for a night out with her pals. It was the trigger for a destructive gambling addiction that led to a life of shame, brutal isolation and deceit. The money she lost over an eight-year period was eye-watering – on one occasion, frittering away a £50,000 online win in a matter of days. Sometimes suicidal, and always lonely, it was the damage she did to those closest to her which hurt the most.
When her addiction saw her undermine the financial security of someone she loved, she reached a crossroads. Stacey tells Dr Sian Williams how she found the strength to ask for help - and turned her life around.
Producer: Tom Alban
Warning: This episode contains discussions around suicide. Details of help and support are available through the BBC Action Line at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, it's Lucy Worsley here and we're back with a brand new series of ladies swindlers. |
| 0:07.5 | Promise never to mention a word of what is going on. |
| 0:10.1 | Join me and my all-female team of detectives as we revisit the audacious crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. |
| 0:19.5 | This is a story of working class women trying to get by in a world made for men. This is a story of working-class women trying to get by. |
| 0:24.4 | This is survival. |
| 0:25.3 | Join me for the second season of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history with a twist. |
| 0:31.4 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.3 | BBC Sounds, music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:40.3 | You're about to listen to the latest series of Life-changing. |
| 0:44.3 | Episodes will be released weekly, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:48.1 | But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:57.5 | Hello, in both journalism and psychology, there's a moment when the person in front of you realizes the panic they feel is because |
| 1:02.2 | they're no longer in control. They might be caught up in an event or a behavior. One minute |
| 1:08.7 | they think they're in charge of their life, the next, they're not. |
| 1:12.9 | Imagine then. If you believe you're on top of your game, everything's going well. You start to |
| 1:18.5 | take a few risks and they pay off, so you take bigger ones. And it's exhilarating. And you keep |
| 1:24.2 | going until, until you're suddenly in a dangerous, terrifying, uncontrollable place. |
| 1:30.7 | That was the feeling experienced by my guest today, Stacey Goodwin, and she joins me now. |
| 1:37.0 | Hi, Stacey. |
| 1:37.8 | Hi. |
| 1:38.9 | Just to be clear from the off, we are talking about gambling today. |
| 1:42.8 | And your nickname for a while was gambling girl the girl |
... |
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