When an Alberta judge declared Jeff Kent a dangerous offender last month and sentenced him to an indefinite prison term for decades of romance fraud, she pointed to a primary root cause: gambling addiction.

“Mr. Kent engaged in gambling activities at casinos almost daily and at the racetrack at least once a week,” Justice Melanie Hayes-Richards wrote. She called him a “predator” who targeted vulnerable women to feed his habit, “destroyed their finances and left some financially destitute.”