RUTH will never forget the night she sat in front of her computer and gambled away £1,100 in an Internet casino. Her boyfriend was away from home on business and there was nothing on TV, so she opened a bottle of wine and settled down in front of the screen. In just four hours, she lost more than she earned in a month.

"That was the most I ever lost at one session. By the end of it, I felt quite dazed. I went to bed feeling guilty that I had gambled that much, but when I woke up the next morning, the only thought in my head was getting back on there and trying to win it back," she says, shaking her head at the memory.

Ruth, a 34-year-old shop assistant, from Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, is one of the growing number of female gamblers. During the last few years, women have taken up gambling in unprecedented numbers, thanks largely to a change in attitudes brought about by the National Lottery and the Internet. Gambling is no longer about smoke-filled betting shops full of men, and is much more socially acceptable for women.

In the past, women tended to restrict themselves to a visit to the bingo or an annual flutter on the Grand National, but today they account for one fifth of online gambling. They contribute more than half the £82.5m spent each year on the Lottery and half the £25bn spent in the nation's casinos.

"Where there is common disposable income between men and women, and where gambling is equally acceptable between men and women, there is very little difference in numbers," says a spokesman for Gamblers Anonynous.

Ruth began gambling three years ago and although she hasn't placed a bet for ten months, the subject is still raw. She can't quite come to terms with how quickly she was sucked into the world of casinos and Internet betting, and it is difficult to believe that a thoughtful, obviously bright woman would end up lying to friends and family and borrowing vast amounts of money to fuel her addiction.

It began innocently enough with National Lottery scratchcards. "It wasn't something I had thought about before but I was going on holiday and I was really hard up. I went out and bought a few. I think I only won about £10 but it was like easy money," she explains.

It planted the idea in her head and she began investigating other forms of gambling.

"I didn't have any debts or anything but I was only earning about £12,000 and I never seemed to have any money. I thought if I could come up with some kind of system I could actually use it to supplement my income."

She bought herself a book about horse racing form and gambling systems and starting visiting her local bookmaker.

"At first, I actually believed it was going to work. I honestly thought I could make money but, after a while, that didn't bother me as much. I just enjoyed gambling for it's own sake."

But she didn't like the bookies. It was a very masculine atmosphere, she says, and she felt uncomfortable. But although she stopped betting on the horses, she started looking for other ways to gamble. Looking back on it, she says that was the point when she should have stopped.

"I thought I could control it, just do it when I wanted to, but it doesn't work like that. You think 'just one more bet and I'll stop'. You get a buzz from it. You still get that even if you lose but when you do win, it's amazing. It's like money for nothing - even if it's just £200. You don't think about the fact you might have spent £2,000 to win it."

Ruth started going to a casino in Newcastle. At first, she persuaded some of her friends to join her and make it a girls' night out. It was much more glamorous than the betting shop and it was always a fun evening. But after a while her friends began to get bored and stopped going. She carried on alone for a while but then she discovered Internet betting.

"Because you're doing it on the web, it's easy. You can do it whenever you want and you just give your credit card details so it's not like real money."

Ruth was now losing large amounts of money. She started borrowing from her boyfriend and her sister to fuel her addiction.

"I would say I'd forgotten my purse or I needed something to tide me over for a day or two.

It was only small amounts but I never paid them back. Even if I just had £5 spare I would go and buy a scratchcard or put on a bet on the Internet."

She started putting all her purchases on her credit cards and using her salary to gamble. In just over two years she estimates she lost £23,000.

"I was losing money but I was gambling to get money and that just made it worse. I just couldn't stop.

"It was an addiction. When you lose, you come out of the casino or whatever and you ask yourself why you're doing it. You feel really stupid, but then you convince yourself that you can go back in there and win it all back. You just keep thinking that you're going to have a run of luck and you'll be able to pay back everything but it never happens."

Ruth's boyfriend Mark began to get suspicious and confronted her about the amount of money she had been spending, even though he didn't know the full extent of her debts.

"I think that was when I realised what I was doing. I knew I had to stop otherwise I could lose Mark. We had been together for six years and were planning to get married. I know that if I'd carried on, he wouldn't have gone through with it - and I don't blame him."

Mark wanted Ruth to join Gamblers' Anonymous. She got as far as phoning the helpline but was reluctant to go to any meetings.

"I think part of me was embarrassed and I also wanted to prove to myself that I could do it on my own. It's been the hardest thing I've ever done. It's been nearly a year since I last gambled but the temptation's always there - even if you just go to the newsagents there's the Lottery, right in your face."

The couple have taken out a loan to consolidate Ruth's debts and she's slowly starting to get her life back on track but it's a long and painful process.

"It's going to take a long time to pay off all the money I owe and it's going to take a long time to get over it psychologically as well. Gambling is destructive but it becomes a part of your life."

l Gamblers Anonymous 08700 50 88 80 or www.gamblersanonymous.

org.uk