Japanese yen. (Photo: Getty)

We’ve all heard tales about people squandering their inheritance by gambling or playing the stock market, but wasting it away on mobile games?

A devastated wife in Japan sought opinions on the Yomiuri Online forum regarding her unbelievable situation. She had 8 million yen (about S$99,000) of inheritance from her mother’s insurance payout after she died three years ago.

Her husband knew this was an important keepsake her mother left her. The couple also had savings of 4 million yen, which makes a hefty sum of 12 million yen (about S$148,000) in their bank.

But to her horror when she checked the bank account, there was nothing left. Upon reviewing the account statements, she noticed an unusual monthly mobile games payment over the past two and a half years.

As it turned out, her husband has been secretly financing his addiction towards mobile games using this money, pretending like nothing was happening.

The worst part about this situation is that the man did not even apologise after he was found out.

The woman said she is considering filing for divorce.

Responses to her thread have generally told her not to forgive him, though one netizen has commented that she should bring him to a hospital, implying that he might have an addiction.

Others have noted that regardless of the insurance payout, using 12 million yen on games is an obvious indication of the vast difference in values and priorities.

A more debatable comment argues that gatcha (a system used in games where players get an item of differing rarity, based on a coded Random Number Generation or RNG) is more harmful than pachinko (pinball-like slot machine game in Japan). Such items can usually be purchased with a special form of in-game currency, or bought directly with real cash. It should therefore be regulated, the netizen said.

With the Japanese government legalising casinos last December in an attempt to boost tourism, the problem of gambling addiction proves to be an even more pressing issue. Other than banning gambling addicts from casinos, it seems like the Japanese government may have to consider ways to prevent mobile phone gamers from splurging too.

Story continues

Other Japan stories:

Keiko Kitagawa voted Japan’s most beautiful female celebrity again

Actor Masaki Suda voted most popular handsome artiste in Japan

Follow Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore on Facebook.