A true story of a woman who becomes seriously addicted to gambling and eventually turns to crime.
	The two sisters Hanni and Mari grow up in Germany. During the Hitler regime, they endure the hardships of World War II. While the adult Hanni emigrates to Canada and later settles in the USA, Mari is twice married. She establishes a carpet business, eventually has two children and later takes on the task of nursing her mother and later her disabled husband. Feeling the crush of the situation, she winds up in a casino one night. She soon falls into a circle of addiction, gambling away her and her husband’s assets and finally starts embezzling money from her cousin. For years Mari keeps her addiction a secret, consequently losing all touch with friends, relatives, and reality. At the age of sixty-six, she is active and dynamic—and on the verge of a total breakdown.
"I had become so obsessed with playing roulette by now that I was anxious to go there every day. I still felt inhibited about actually entering the facility, but once I was in, I had the feeling that I was entering into another world. It was as just as if I was in a slight state of intoxication. I wasn’t just playing easy or triple chances anymore; I had gotten to know all kinds of systems, and was placing stakes on numbers which I had rejected at the beginning. The fact that I would not stop after I had already won was occurring with more and more frequency. I’d continue to play, until my money had run out for that particular day. A croupier at the cash desk said to me, 'You have to stop when you’ve won.' Stop! Most people don’t stop, then end up losing their money. Yeah, stop. If only it were that easy!"	Order Now Reviews Biography