A gambler was making as many as 100 bets a day online and had previously accumulated £18,000 in debts before he took his own life, the first inquest of its kind has heard.
Luke Ashton, 40, from Leicester, died in April 2021, after having longstanding problems with gambling, his wife, Annie, told the inquest at Leicester coroner’s court.
The hearing is thought to be first time a gambling operator has been formally involved in an inquest. It was attended by representatives of Flutter UK & Ireland, the parent company of the gambling operator Betfair, which was made an “interested person” at the inquest.
Ashton told the inquest her husband had a gambling addiction that he did not understand or recognise, and that it was causing him pain and harm. He admitted to her that he had taken out loans and accumulated a debt of about £18,000 in 2019, she said.
Examinations of Ashton’s betting records showed he gambled up to 100 times a day, including early in the morning and late at night when his wife was in bed, the coroner, Ivan Cartwright, was told.
Prof Clare Gerada, the president of the Royal College of GPs, who specialises in addiction issues, told the inquest that Ashton put bets on greyhound racing and women’s netball.
In a report on his death, Gerada said Ashton was suffering with a “longstanding and pervasive gambling disorder” and not depression.
Annie Ashton told the inquest that she suggested to her husband that he see a counsellor but he declined because the money he owed had been paid off and he was feeling better.
“He said when he was gambling, he was just trying to get enough money back to pay off the loans and he hated doing it,” she said.
She believed her husband stopped gambling at the end of 2019 but that he started again during the pandemic when he was furloughed from his full-time job.
The inquest heard that Ashton left notes for his wife and children before his death that twice mentioned gambling and admitted he had “demons”.
The barrister Philip Kolvin, representing Flutter, said the notes suggested Ashton may have been suffering from a mental health condition that pre-dated his experiences with gambling.
In a statement issued before the inquest started on Wednesday, Ian Brown, the chief executive of Flutter, said: “We wish to reiterate our sincere condolences to Mrs Ashton and her family. We are truly sorry for their loss.
“Across Flutter UKI, we are absolutely committed to safe gambling and to protecting all our customers. We hold ourselves to the very highest standards in the industry. We are constantly learning and updating our processes and we have made many changes over the past three years to make gambling with our brands even safer. We will, of course, incorporate any additional learnings from this tragic case into our controls.”
The inquest continues.
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
