Now here is one for the news – AsiaOne recently published a report on a husband in Singapore who was searching for his missing wife. The husband alleged that the wife had become addicted to gambling when she first visited the casino at Resorts World Sentosa eight months ago with her co-workers and has since been gravitating to the casino regularly.

The report said that the wife, named Zheng Su Ying, 39, once told the husband that even if she had no money to gamble, she would be happy just hearing the sounds made by the jackpot machines. Zheng called her usband two weeks ago to let him know that she is leaving him as well as their two children because she could not stop gambling. Now that is what we call an addiction!

I wonder if, in cases like this, alternatives like playing at an online casino could solve this family’s problems. Singapore is a fairly liberal country with lenient regulations on gambling, therefore gambling online could gradually ease her out of her addiction, keeping her away from the casino and at home with an eye on her children at all times. However, it seems that her addiction may be worse than we thought if it isn’t the gambling she is actually addicted to, but the casino itself!

I believe that under no circumstances should Zheng be foolish, and not to mention selfish, to leave her family in the pretence that she is a “bad” wife for being addicted to gambling. If she truly wants to get better, she needs to understand that curing an addiction requires support and her family is the best support she can get. Running away and disappearing only shows that you are selfish and you only wish to keep feeding your addiction until it breaks you. We can all learn from this lesson.

Until today, Zheng ‘s whereabouts is still unknown.