M'sian man's wife pays off RM100k gambling debt, files for divorce after relapse

The Sun

20-07-2025

A Malaysian man recently expressed his deep regret over losing his wife and child due to his gambling addiction.
In a heartfelt submission on the Facebook page XUAN, he shared that his bad habits led his wife to file for divorce.
'Now I live alone. Every day after work, I come home and stare at the four walls, open my phone and look at old photos of our family of three, and my heart aches as if it's being torn apart. I can barely sleep at night,' he wrote.
He admitted to gambling away all of his savings and resorting to loans and maxing out his credit cards. He also confessed to secretly using his wife's savings and stock investment accounts to fund his addiction.
'I hid this from her for half a year before I finally gathered the courage to confess. She chose to forgive me and even helped me pay off RM100,000 in credit card debt,' he revealed.
Despite paying off such a large sum, his financial situation worsened, leaving his wife to bear the bulk of the household expenses. Their marriage began to deteriorate as trust was broken.
'If I made even a small mistake, it would be magnified; even if I did something right, it was just 'what you should have done',' he claimed.
Things took a turn for the worse when he relapsed and gambled again, using and losing her savings again. He confessed immediately this time, but his wife no longer hesitated—she filed for divorce.
He initially refused to accept the divorce and begged for another chance to make things right, but she stood firm, telling him she could no longer trust someone who had betrayed her repeatedly.
'She said she had no reason to hold on anymore.
'It was only then that I truly woke up. Why did I never think about the consequences when I was gambling? Why did I keep saying my wife and child were everything, yet I personally destroyed this family?' he reflected.
He said he was especially worried about his wife having to raise their three-year-old child alone. Still, she firmly asked him to leave the home, saying she could no longer continue living with him.
Following their separation, he even attempted to take his own life, thinking his death might allow her to claim compensation to help repay the debts. However, the attempt failed. He chose not to tell his wife, fearing she would see it as a ploy for sympathy.
'The only thing I can do now is work hard to pay off my debts, and occasionally see my child,' he said.
Facing this difficult situation, he wondered whether he should continue hoping for his wife's forgiveness or let her go and wish her a better life.
Netizens overwhelmingly supported the wife and advised the man to release her from the burden of his mistakes, fearing a third relapse if she ever took him back.
'Set her free. You're not going to change. If she stays with you, it will only lead to endless debt and a bottomless pit that can never be filled,' one user commented.
'A gambler can't change. If you truly wanted to change, you wouldn't keep making the same mistake over and over again. Let her go—set someone's daughter free,' another added.