The husband knew about his wife's addiction and accordingly counselled her against gambling with the money.

But instead of going to deposit the cheque,she en-cashed it and for a week she gambled the money away. When the funds ran low, she started coming back to her senses. She would stand up, walk about, shake her head and talk to herself.

And eventually, the money got finished. For the next two days, she sat and watched other gamblers. Then she disappeared leaving her car parked in the bushes outside the hotel.

Her picture was posted in the Daily News as a missing person. The woman had confided in some people in the gambling den that she just could not face her husband after what she did.

*A middle-aged man from Mopipi village, who was commonly referred to as Rra-Botsile hanged himself after he gambled away all his earnings. He arrived home after collecting his salary and had no answers when his wife asked him about money. For a long time, Rra-Botsile said how much he wished to stop gambling.

"I just do not know what to do. I have gone to those people and asked them to ban me from ever approaching the place, but once the ban elapses, I go back in again," he would say.

The day he hanged himself, Rra-Botsile had close to P10,000 on him and engaged in high stakes gambling. After about seven hours of gambling, he had no money.

When he walked into the gambling resort, Rra-Botsile was cognizant of the fact that he was late with the payment of school fees for his children. He was also aware that there was no food in his house.

He was supposed to travel to his home village of Mopipi and his car needed servicing.
His wife was waiting for him when he got home empty-handed and the look of misery in her eyes made him dash for the bedroom where he took a rope and hanged himself.

*There was to be a burial in Mahalapye and a coffin had to be bought at funeral parlour in Gaborone. A sister of the deceased volunteered to lead the delegation to the funeral parlour. She was the one entrusted with the money for the coffin.But on arrival in Gaborone, she gave her companions the slip and dashed into a gambling den. It was around 4pm. By 4am, the following day, she was a pitiful figure as she sat holding her cheeks and crying: "Iyoo! Ke jesitse madi a lekese (Ooh God! I have gambled money for the coffin)".

A fellow gambler who heard the sorrowful cries of the woman took pity and offered her P1,000 he had won on the machine he was playing.

"I gave her the money on the understanding that she would go away, at least so that she could go and give back the money and beg for forgiveness from her relatives. But there she was gambling again. When I left, she had only P20. I am still wondering what happened to that woman," the gambler said.

* An old man collapsed and was certified dead on arrival at Princess Marina Hospital after his heart stopped while he was gambling. Apparently, the old man had just been discharged from hospital and instead of going home, he thought passed by the gambling den.

Witnesses said the old man was always screaming at the top of his voice whenever he thought he was winning. And then he fell down. The security men came and helped him up and an ambulance was called. He was certified dead on arrival at Princess Marina.

*A friend of mine is now a house-maid earning P600 after she gambled away her car and house in 2006. She won the house in a competition and now she regrets ever winning anything. "I wish I had not won anything. My days have been darker than before," she says.