When Kylie told me that she was leaving, I don’t think I really noticed. I mean, I registered it, but I was a bit wrapped up in the gambling. I’d more than tripled my money, and I’d kept her from losing anything serious. I was doing great.

It wasn’t until now, half an hour after she left, that it really occurred to me. We’d come here together, to spend time together. Not for me to gamble.

Do I have a gambling problem? Looking down at my chips (more than two hundred ...