'I Just Kicked Her Out': Mother Backed for Evicting Gambling Addict Sister
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Members of a popular internet forum stood behind one young mother after she explained her decision to evict her older sister.
In a viral post published on r/AmITheA**hole, 22-year-old Redditor u/SisterOut2928 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said her sister had been living with her and her 3-month-old daughter since she lost her job, but detailed the events that lead to her kicking the 27-year-old out of her home.
Titled, "[Am I the a**hole] for kicking my sister out when she blew MY money on [an] online game?" the post has received nearly 5,300 votes and 700 comments in the last day.
Writing that her sister moved in after her previous employer was liquidated, the original poster said the pair of siblings were living in harmony but explained how her sister's gambling problem created a major rift between the two.
"My sister was a recovered gambling addict," OP explained. "All of her bank cards have gambling blocks in place, because her addiction was so severe."
"It doesn't even need to be real money she's winning, just the spinny s**t gives her that happy chemical," OP continued. "All it results in is losing money."
Recently, the original poster said her sister had been gambling online using her tablet, which was linked to her Google Pay account. Continuing to explain that she had no idea her sister was using her money to gamble, the original poster said she was alerted to the situation after attempting to purchase supplies for her infant daughter.
"Yesterday alone, my sister managed to blow my entire paycheck," OP wrote. "I wasn't aware until this morning when I went to get my groceries, but my card declined. I checked my banking app, and emails and she had managed to spend everything."
"This meant that I wasn't able to grocery shop for the next two weeks, and while I can survive on what I have, the baby cannot," OP continued. "As soon as I got home, I kicked [my sister] out. I didn't give her a reason, or let her know I know she spent everything, I just kicked her out."
Gambling is, undeniably, one of humanity's favorite pastimes. Dating back to 2300 B.C., people have been betting on a myriad of games and activities for millennia, and the internet has only added fuel to that fire.
Today in the United States, gambling is legal in 48 of 50 states. Online gambling, however, is only legal in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to Betting USA.
While sports gambling, and online sports gambling, have remained a highly-debated topic of conversation for the last decade, the onset of COVID-19 saw a major increase in all types of gambling.
Last May, Science Daily reported that during the global pandemic, regular gamblers have been six times more likely to gamble online. This means that, since the beginning of 2020, when much of the world's population was forced inside, online gambling has become a near-constant presence in the lives of people who were already prone to gambling addiction.
The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) reports that 85 percent of adults in the United States have gambled at least once in their lives, and that 60 percent of adults have gambled in the last two years.
Of these major portions of the American population, it is estimated that two million people are addicted to gambling and that for as many as 20 million, gambling "seriously interferes with work and social life," according to the Addiction Center.
Although gambling addiction is a major problem which inhibits the wellbeing of millions of Americans, many commenters responding to the viral Reddit post argued that stealing from a sibling to gamble is unacceptable and assured the original poster she was justified in evicting her older sister.
"She knew what she was doing, she knew it wasn't her money she was spending and she stole from you," Redditor u/Agitated_Crab1 wrote in the post's top comment, which has received more than 10,000 votes. "Addiction is a disease, but that doesn't protect the person from the consequences of their actions."
"She's not some kid who doesn't understand how money works," Redditor u/UnamazingHero added. "She's a fully grown adult with no excuses for blowing someone else's money."
Redditor u/ShoulderStandard9492, whose comment has received more than 2,000 votes, offered a similar response and pointed out that the original poster's sister hadn't just stolen from her, but also from her 3-month-old child.
"This is money YOU earned for YOUR child," they wrote. "The fact she did that knowing full well you have a child to feed makes her the biggest [a**hole] ever."
"She put your child at risk of, if not starvation, at least malnourishment," Redditor u/ErisianImpulse chimed in. "[Not the a**hole] and don't buy into anyone who tries to make you feel guilty for making an addict face the consequences of their actions."
