'I won £127,000 – six years later I was homeless after life turned to hell'

A woman who won a “life-changing” £127,000 said the money destroyed her life. Lisa Walker thought her prize would be a fresh start, but it led to a crippling gambling addiction that resulted in her losing her home and being out on the streets.

The mum, from Rainham, Essex, has opened up about her harrowing story and revealed how hitting rock bottom finally led to getting the help she needed. Lisa said “everything changed” after going on a night out with her sister when she was 29.

She was a mum-of-two and a full-time carer to her severely disabled daughter — so a trip to the now closed Rendezvous Southend Casino was a welcome distraction.

Lisa only had £50 on her but she started playing on the progressive jackpot — and one reveal of her perfect hand of cards ended up with her being £127,000 richer. She said the “casino went ballistic” and people were taking pictures of her.

After the manager took her into the office, and asked her what she did for a living, he told her: “Oh my God, this is life-changing money. It’s going to be brilliant.”

And speaking on Truth Be Told with Zara McDermott , Lisa recalled: “And I thought it was going to be brilliant — but it wasn’t.” Tragically, it was the catalyst for her gambling addiction, and she added: “It led to 16 years of hell and back.”

At first, the feeling was euphoric. Lisa was able to give her sister, who was living in a council flat, £20,000, and she used some of her money to take her kids to Disneyland in Florida. However, Lisa was craving the dopamine hits she got from gambling.

Shortly after claiming £127,000, she started to return to the casinos, and her bets were getting bigger and bigger. She said: “I used to literally drop the kids to school and drive wherever I could drive to where people wouldn’t know me so I could gamble.

“And putting on that mask every night, going home, pretending everything’s all right, and inside you’re just dying because you just want that next bet. You just want it so bad.”

Lisa went on to gamble between £400,000-£500,000. She said her life became a “sad and lonely existence” and her marriage broke down. By the time she was 35, she lost her house, and became homeless.

She ended up at a hostel with her two children, who were just 10 and 11 at the time, before the kids went to live with her mum for six weeks. Lisa, who said she was sensible in school and never drank or did drugs, said gambling got her in a grip and she couldn’t escape from it.

However, even after losing her home, she continued to gamble, and it eventually led to a rock bottom. At the age of 41, she remarried her husband Gary in Las Vegas. She planned the whole thing, and knowing everyone would be drinking, she slipped off late into the night.

She recalled: “And that’s exactly what I did on my wedding night in my wedding dress. I got a payday loan out because I’d run out of money. So I got a payday loan from England for £2,000 and I just sat until five in the morning on my wedding night playing on this fruit machine.”

Afterwards, Lisa had the £2,000 to pay off, and for the first time in her life, she asked her son for money, which he gave her.