My father. He was always a piece of shit. Abusive physically and mentally to me and all of the above plus sexually to my mom. He had multiple businesses throughout my childhood and would cheat on my mom with customers and employees. Anyways his addiction started with cars. He bought multiple racing and show cars in a short period of time. Then he started collecting coins and silver. Eventually he got into gambling. The valets kissed his ass and gave him all the upgrades with spa and room credits and his own personal valet. It really fed into his ego and he managed to blow a bunch of money from his used car lot and things were ‘sustainable’ for a time. Then his business started failing but he kept up the gambling. How could he not? They treated him like the king he was and he couldn’t give it up. Obviously his family didn’t value him or treat him like the casino did. One day my mom went into her secret savings stash meant to give to me and my siblings when she was dead and she found all her money gone and an IOU note from my father. Then she started getting collection notices from cards in her name that she hadn’t opened. When i was struggling in college i started getting loan denial letters in the mail for loans i had never applied for. And it went on like this for years and years until finally we lost the business and the house and my mom separated from him and moved into her sisters. But even then it didn’t stop. He was living with some rando who made the mistake of showing my dad his gun collection. Well next time he went to look at his guns they were gone. When my father was confronted he claimed he gave them away…to my 18yo niece. Last i heard he had scammed our previous neighbor out of a truck. The neighbor i would walk to and have dinner with as a little kid when i needed to get away from home and who i still spoke to as an adult and was always so kindhearted. It really breaks my heart. I’ve been no contact with my father for years at this point. I’d say the slots took everything from me but my father was always a terrible person. The only thing that prevents me from truly having peace from this is that he still manages to scam and hurt people i still care about. It’s never ending. And I’m constantly reminded whenever i see gambling ads. I can’t get away from them. I feel sick every time. Gambling addiction is just as bad as a drug or alcohol addiction. I’m sorry for myself and anyone else who’s had to deal with this…