Ebba’s last words: “Never start playing!”

Ebba Gravestam, 26, took her own life as a result of a deep gambling addiction. Her last words: “Never start playing!”
In Nyhetsmorgon, the mother Annika tells about Ebba’s story:
– She had everything in front of her.

During a lunch break, Ebba Gravestam told the truth to her mother Annika Gravestam. She gambled and had 250,000-300,000 kroner in debt.

– It was 700,000, so she had no idea whatsoever, the mother tells Nyhetsmorgon.

Mother and daughter were colleagues and the daughter had a good life, she says. Steady job, own home and good income.

– She had everything in front of her.

Nevertheless, Ebba got caught up in a deep gambling addiction, an addiction no one could have guessed on the surface. Annika believes that it all started with her daughter winning big once, then she was hooked.

Annika helped her daughter pay off the debt with the help of a loan.

– She was game-free over the summer, but then she started again.

Found the daughter dead

On March 20, 2019, Annika came home and failed to open the door to her daughter’s room. One part for a curling iron was hanging outside. She called her roommate who helped her open the door.

– She had hanged herself with the cord of a curling iron.

The period after the daughter took her own life is a blur. She thought a lot about whether they could have done more.

– You were in such shock because it came out of nowhere, says Annika and adds:

– But the sad thing is that she didn’t tell us that she had relapsed.

After Ebba’s death, the phone kept ringing. Offers were sent from apps wanting Ebba to come back and play.

– It is this chasing that I find totally disgusting, says Annika Gravestam.

That way you can get help

Ebba Gravestam left a letter behind. “Never start playing!” it says. Unfortunately, her fate is not unique when it comes to women and gambling addiction. Research shows that despite men’s strong overrepresentation in the number of gambling addicts, women are often more severely affected by mental illness as a consequence.

Annika’s advice to parents of gambling addicts is: Get help and get in touch with the national association of gambling addicts.

– Check the children, or young people, before they turn 18: What they are doing on their phones and teach them that it can happen. Talk, and talk, and dare to talk and ask.