At the deepest low of her husband Rob's poker machine addiction, a frustrated Rebecca drove to the pub in her pyjamas to find him.
Rob had been disappearing for hours, days, nights and weekends at a time, feeding up to $1000 into machines at a long list of Hunter pubs and clubs.
"I walked in and was asked to leave because I didn't have any shoes on," Rebecca said.
"I said 'I'm here in a nightie and dressing gown and you're worried about my shoes?' I snuck in the side door and told him to get his arse home."
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Rebecca and her three children had hit a tipping point after spending hours racked with fear, wondering where Rob was and if he was safe.
"We used to say it would take something really big for him to change and realise what he's doing and what he's done," Rebecca said.
"I would not have expected a global pandemic to be the catalyst for him to make a change, but he's now happy, smiling, laughing, making jokes. He's going to work."
Rebecca said thanks to COVID-19 restrictions, Rob hasn't played a poker machine in more than a month.
The family feels - for the first time in five years - they have their husband and dad back.
"It's a whole new world and he's a completely different person, it's like having back the man I married," she said.
"My children are saying 'We're really proud of you, we're sure it's not easy, but this is great'.
"He's saying 'Those machines are evil'."
Rebecca said employees have told her "they now have their pay packets each week" since venue closures.
Another problem gambler told her the restrictions were a "blessing".
Rebecca said Australia had been given a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for reform in the gambling industry - and time was of the essence.
Rob hasn't shown any signs of withdrawal.
But she has no doubt if venues were open, he would still be gambling.
She is not entirely sure he won't return when they do reopen.
Rebecca said she wanted to see tighter regulation, with limits on the times of day people could use the machines, how long they could spend on machines, the amount they could put in and a stop to measures that made them attractive, such as free food.
She said NSW could introduce a buyback scheme.
"I understand from a business perspective they make money," she said. "But what is the human cost of making that money? This could save someone's life."
She said she'd also like to see venues take more responsibility to help patrons they suspect have a problem.
"It's not enough to tack 'gamble responsibly' on the back of an ad, or 'know your limits' on a poster, because these people don't gamble responsibly and they don't know their limits."
Rebecca's local member, Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison, said problem gambling could have "catastrophic" consequences.
"What I'd like to see is more investment in community programs to help people recognise the signs of problem gambling behaviour, plus more access to counselling and support services."
Ms Harrison said she'd also like to see voluntary self exclusion agreements and the Responsible Service of Gambling course "beefed up".
Rebecca and Rob met as teenagers and married more than 30 years ago. They run a business together.
Rob has always played the pokies, but "was able to control himself".
But about five years ago the family hit an unexpected rough patch. Rebecca said she believed Rob became depressed.
"His way of dealing with it was to hide from the world and go to the pub," she said.
"He stopped answering the phone, stopped communicating with his friends. He barely talked to me and the kids. He disappeared. If we couldn't find him, we knew he'd be at a pub."
Rebecca said sometimes Rob wouldn't come home from work, or turn up to work.
She believes there may have been a period of drug use.
Rebecca said the family didn't speak about the problem with anyone outside their home, but addressed it frequently among themselves.
"He would just be angry and tell me I was nagging and I was controlling - he would put it back on me."
The couple have joint finances and Rebecca would check their accounts throughout each day.
"I was transferring money around so I could hide some," she said.
"It's all consuming, not just for the person, but for the people trying to keep everything together.
"They say you have to let them fall, but to do that would mean we'd have to lose everything, our home, our business, our cars."
She tried to get him to rehabilitation. She called doctors, counsellors, a psychiatrist and Gamblers Anonymous. He went to one meeting and stopped gambling for three weeks.
"It has to come from the addict themselves."
Rebecca even consulted a lawyer about divorce.
"I know him so well that I know it's not who he is normally," she said.
"If we had not been together as long as we have, I would have walked away really easily. It might have been the easy option, but it wasn't the right option.
"I knew there was still a good person there - I just couldn't see him for a while."
She said she believed Rob had "brief and sporadic" moments when he realised the seriousness of his problem.
"We had times where he would ring up and be so upset or angry with himself he'd say 'I think I'm going to drive into a tree rather than come home'," she said.
"It brings so much guilt and shame with it. It's a silent addiction.
"He'd say 'I don't know what I'm doing', or 'I don't know what I want anymore' and I'd say 'You've got to figure it out'."
Rebecca said there was no way to work out the financial cost of the problem.
"He made the comment last week that he'd probably put [the cost of] a house through them."
Rebecca said she believes he spent $100,000 last year alone.
"We'll be paying this for a while," she said. "There are holes where there should not be holes."
But Rebecca said more taxing than the bill was the emotional toll it has taken on the family.
They're exhausted, she said, but feeling cautiously hopeful.
"My children are ecstatic to have their father back, the man they know, who raised them," she said.
"For a long time for them it's been emotionally very difficult.
"For me, I sometimes still get angry and need a minute to walk away.
"We're doing okay, but we're dreading what may be about to come."
Support: gamblinghelponline.org.au, 1800 858 858.
