My Husband Has A Gambling Addiction! 🤑💸| KARAMO

All right, we all know how a drug or alcohol addiction can tear apart a marriage, but way too often another addiction is overlooked, gambling. Gambling can be just as destructive as a drug addiction. And my guest Shawntia says she has over $13,000 worth of debt because of her husband's gambling obsession. Backstage is her husband Ian, the self-proclaimed parlay king. But does Ian think he has a problem? Well, watch this.

I'm the Parlay King. My wife, Shantia, fell in love with my lifestyle. You know what's losing me money? Being married. The reason why she fell in love with me, I drive nice cars. I'm focusing on a lot of overseas trips for next year, but I'm just getting started in this. I make money on FanDuel, DraftKings, every app you can think of, Parlay Kings. It don't even matter what sport it is. I got a nice little system and rituals. I watch the players before the game. I watch the players after the game. I can't give too much. Karamo, you can learn a thing or two from me about hitting it big. The way I see it, Shawntia, she just want all the money for herself. She gonna take trips. She gonna go to casinos. She gonna get her hair done. She want the cars. She want everything. But you gotta play to play, you know? She ain't even paying her fair share on the bills. So she want me to pay for them? Karamo, when this all over, I'm gonna be the parlay god. Halo me. I'm all about my money and my wife, she need to realize that. She say I got a gambling problem, but I ain't changing for nobody. When we all done, you gonna tell Shawntia to kiss the ring. Let it go.

Oh, wow.

Wow. Okay, well, Shawntia is here. Welcome to the show.

Wow.

Listen, Shawntia, thank you so much for being here. We heard it. We heard it. We all saw it. We all had a reaction. But you tell me from your point of view, what's going on in your marriage?

Oh my gosh. Right now we are not in a good place at all. We are in the process of divorce. We've been together 8 years. We love each other. I love him, he loves me, but sometimes love's not enough.

Is it because you think Ian has a gambling problem?

Yes.

Why do you feel that way?

Because that's all he does. You see, he calls himself the Parlay King. He's not very good at it.

Wow.

It's gotten ridiculous. He will go bet on anything. He don't even have to know anything about it. His rituals and stuff that he does, to each their own, but that's not what I'm trying to do. Like, you taking away from us with these parlays. We need money for bills. We got 4 kids.

So how much money or how much debt is Ian in right now?

Right now I have an apartment on my credit for $13,000 'cause he gambled away all our money. So we were supposed to be buying a house. I can't get a house with that on my credit. They're gonna see that debt on there and they're gonna say, "No, you need to get that off of there.

That's too much debt." So the credit is low?

Yes.

It's low.

Yes.

Okay. So what happened with the water bill? Tell me about that.

Oh my gosh. One day I was in the shower and the water cuts off. The bill didn't get paid twice.

Twice the water got cut off?

Twice. Yes.

What is this, a text message?

Oh yeah, that was how much the bill was.

$229.

Yes. And he knew that it was due and he told me that he paid it. We got into it. That was a whole argument.

So what are some of the extreme things that Ian has done to you?

Get money? He got our daughter a PlayStation after he buys it. Well, she's too young. Well, let me just go pawn this off.

You're saying that he has spent money on his tax returns 3 times. He spent $7K of his savings and that he ruined your credit and also pawned your daughter's PS4.

Yes.

Pawned the engagement ring.

Yes, yes, my rings, my rings, they were gone. I ain't seen him in months.

So what does he say happened to your ring?

He doesn't say.

Does his gambling addiction affect your relationship with your kids or his relationship with the kids?

No, he's a pretty good dad. But when you take from them, like, and spend it on things like that, you can't take from your kids like that. And then you're not teaching them good money spending habits either.

Who do you talk to about all this? 'Cause it's a lot for you to deal with.

It is. I talk to his cousins. They agree.

And so what has Ian told you about your relationship?

He told me that he feels like that he can save money and be better being single.

What? Does he want out of this relationship?

I feel like he does. Yeah, I love him, but that's not enough. Like, you can only tell a person so much.

Do you want out of this relationship?

If it's gonna be like this, I do. I do. I mean, I love what we have, but I can't— you bringing me down too. I can't be brought down with you. I got kids who depend on me.

Wow. All right, friends. Well, listen, I think it's time that we talk to Shawntia's husband, the parlay king himself. Everyone, please welcome Ian to the show.

Yeah, slap it up.

Ian, so you said after the show you want to— you won't be the parlay king, but you'll be the parlay god.

God, I'm already working on it, man.

Yeah. How are you the parlay god?

Check it out. I don't lose.

So why did our water get cut off if you don't lose?

I didn't lose in the parlay.

You said that you think she fell in love with your lifestyle. What did you mean by that?

She fell in love with my lifestyle because she saw me getting it and she want a part of the bank. Everybody want a part of the bank.

It don't sound like a very providing bank if the water's getting cut off.

The water not cut off.

She said the water got cut off twice.

The water's not cut off now though, is it?

Okay.

So how I get paid?

Not you.

You telling me that because you can't keep up, I'm supposed to— I can keep up. Because you can't keep up, I'm supposed to just keep on— I can keep up. Just giving up money, giving up money, giving up money, giving up money.

That's not true.

We supposed to be paying. Give it up money, give it up money, give it up money, give it up money, give it up money.

I still have to keep up with you. We supposed to be up at the same pace.

Nah, nah.

We supposed to be at the same pace.

See, is this your sports car right here? Both of them. And they had me take that one because my outfit kind of matched the car. So they had me take it that day. You can't just tell a story.

You do know your feet are not touching the ground in these photos.

The feet, my feet, look, they on the ground. No, no, no, that's Photoshop.

See, it's these delusions that I deal with that he just think he the parlay king, parlay guy.

That's my, look, look, you see that building back there? That's my garage. She mad because that's why she don't know nothing about that stuff.

And you can afford those cars, you can't afford to get a Walmart?

They don't walk around buying none of this stuff.

You get up for these cars, I keep the water on.

I'm the parlay king. Heaviest head to wear the crown.

Where my rings at?

Heaviest head to wear the crown. Where your rings? Where your rings?

In the PlayStation. You pawned the PlayStation.

Why you, why, why? Okay, when you do the thing, when you think about it logically, when you think about it logically, you think about it logically, think about it logically.

That's a whole house.

Think about it logically. 2 years old. She can't even hold the controller.

You bought it.

She can't even hold the controller.

All jokes aside, Ian, Shawntia is not the only person who thinks that you have a serious problem here. Your cousin Alonzo is also here to talk about your gambling issues. Everyone, can we please welcome Alonzo to the show?

That's funny. Y'all funny. With the red shirt, y'all funny, boy.

All right, so Alonzo, why did you reach out to me for help?

I reached out because I'm highly concerned.

For Lyfe?

No, I'm highly concerned for their relationship, for the survival of their relationship.

How you highly concerned for something that don't even involve you?

Now I'm out here. We gonna do this. We gonna do it right.

This don't even involve you.

So because what it is is he's jeopardizing a lot of things. He's putting a lot of things on the line and it's costing him a lot and I just don't wanna see him lose everything 'cause I truly care about both of them.

Yeah.

But it gets iffy when I give him $3,000 and he loses my money.

So you've given him $3,000 and he's lost your money?

That's right, 'cause he has all these crazy superstitions about lucky socks and lucky gloves and if I—

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.

It ain't no way.

So it makes sense now why you're involved in this because not only are you seeing her, their relationship being deteriorated by this gambling problem, but you've also been affected by giving him money and him losing your money.

That's right.

$3,000 is a lot of money to give somebody.

Yes, it is. I mean, he's really good at convincing you.

That's $300. That's $300, Karamo. How much money do you think that he actually owes you?

$3,000.

$3,000.

$3,000.

Your cousin just said you owe him $3,000. What is your response to that?

He tried to get in. He tried to play a parlay. You try to pay parlay, you got to pay to play. If you lose, you lose. I ain't playing for you.

That's not—

that ain't my money. That's your money.

I understand what he's saying.

You try to— if you can't hopscotch, you're gonna fall on your face once you roll them little rocks on there.

I understand what he's saying, but I didn't—

I didn't—

I wasn't guaranteed no payout. It wasn't about me. I wasn't guaranteed no payout. I was never told I was going to win anything. So it was more of an investment than me trying to play a parlay.

Got it.

It was definitely more of an investment.

But then it gets crazy and it gets extremely hurtful when Shantia calls me very upset.

Lonzo, what did he say when you asked for your money back?

He said he's gonna win it back. He said, "I got you, I'm gonna just keep investing in the parlays. Oh, the Rams play next week. Oh, the Lakers play next week. As soon as I'm gonna make this parlay, I'm gonna pay you back." And then either the team loses or he bets wrong. Regardless of the thing is, he's 0 for 10.

Hey, nah. Wow. That's with somebody else's money. With my money.

So you owe somebody else money?

I'm perfectly fine popping it in the trash.

Alonzo, I wanna know what do you think that Shawntia should do about their marriage?

I honestly, I don't know what's needed, but some sort of counseling is needed. Some sort of counseling is needed because I don't think Ian takes it serious. I don't think he takes it serious at all. I think Shawntia's very serious. Like when we start talking about PlayStations and taking from kids and life, like you let my water get cut off, we got a problem. And it just alarm me when he's giving away things that's jeopardizing the family. She's crying, she's upset, bills aren't getting paid. You risking livelihood at this point. And I don't think a parlor The play is worth it.

Karamo, this is how I feel about it. I love him, I love him, and this is really what he truly believes. I'm not gonna stop loving you, but you gonna have that by yourself.

So your wife just said that y'all are about to separate.

She don't want that.

Your wife just said that you're about to separate. How does that make you feel?

I'm just trying to get money, man. I'm tired of being broke.

I know you're tired of being broke, and that's why gambling is so, It seems so enticing to people because it's a quick fix. But there's an ugly side to that, which is what you're living right now, where you're losing the money. You are not winning in life. Let that sink in. You are losing money. You're about to lose your wife. You're about to lose your family. Stop chasing a win. You gotta win right there. Look at the win you already got. Can you turn to your wife right now and say, I have a gambling problem. Hold on. It's okay, it's all right, it's all right. Take your time. It's all right.

I may, or I may not, but it looks like I do have a little bit of a problem with gambling.

Give me a hug, give me a hug. All right. Because the thing is that I understand, take a seat for me. I understand you took a big step there and for the first time since you've been out here, I see a man, I don't see a jokester. Alonzo, can you let him sit next to his wife please? Come sit next to your wife. You're next to your wife, you're chasing a win like we talked about before, and this woman is telling you that she wants to be here so y'all can win together. She's been holding you down and you know it. And even through the aggravation and all that stuff, she ain't left you yet. Your wife wants to be there for you. It's a win. Your kids wanna be there for you. You understand? But you have to acknowledge this addiction and you have to get help for this addiction. You hear me? You have to get help for the addiction.

I just want to win, man.

I'm gonna ask you this. Do you want to get help?

I just wanna win all around, man.

I get it, but the first step in winning in your life for real is to get help for this addiction. I ain't gonna win. Do you wanna get help for this addiction so you can start to win in life?

Yeah, if I'm gonna win, yeah.

I need to hear from you, and I know that your wife needs to hear this too. I want to get help for my gambling addiction. Can you say it to your wife?

I want to get help for my gam—

You got it.

I wanna get help for my gambling addiction.

Good job. Good job. I know that was hard. Good job. Good job. [APPLAUSE] The first thing that you have to do being married to someone who has an addiction that is gambling is that you have to first separate your finances. You have to figure out how to get your money into a separate account. Doesn't mean that you're not gonna support him with bills, you're not gonna be there for him, but you have to also have your own separate thing. Secondly, that credit, because if he's not able to, which I believe he's gonna take the steps to get this gambling under control, If he's not able to, you have to rebuild your life. What I wanna do for you is I'm gonna pay for credit repair for you so that this credit can get good. You hear me? I'm gonna pay for that. You're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome. Oh, you're welcome, you're welcome. You're welcome. It is gonna be tough because you're gonna have to weed yourself off of commercials. You're gonna have to weed yourself off of internet ads. You're gonna have to wean yourself off of all the things that say win, win, win. Gamblers Anonymous, they got stuff like this. It's gonna be a journey, but I promise you, the same way somebody can be sober for many years, same way I'm sober for many years, you can get sober from addiction of gambling. And you have to change your lifestyle, but you got somebody here, you got somebody there, you got somebody in this audience who wanna support you. I'm here to support you. All right? You got it? Y'all gonna be all right. I believe y'all gonna be all right. All right, everyone, listen. Gambling addiction is uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it may take on your life. Gambling can stimulate the brain's reward system much like drugs or alcohol, which leads to an addiction. If you or someone you love has a gambling problem, please call the National Problem for Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-8255. 1-800-621-4700. You can get some help. Y'all got this. Y'all just saw a man. He took a big first step here today. Y'all gonna take it.

You want my ring? You got the ring back! You get the ring back! Look at that! The ring is back!

Thank God the ring is back. Hold on, where you going? I'll tell you where you're going. Right here to subscribe and right here to watch more, period.