Campaigners from The Christian Institute have noted that neither the gambling industry nor the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) takes seriously the large number of gambling-related suicides.
According to Public Health England (PHE), more than 400 individuals take their own lives for reasons associated with gambling on an annual basis. However, only 8 of these deaths have been investigated by the country’s gambling regulatory body since 2018.
At the time of an investigation into the tragic death of the young gambling addict Jack Ritchie, Senior Coroner David Urpeth linked the man’s suicide to serious problem gambling and submitted and addressed the UK Government by submitting a “Report to Prevent Future Deaths” and calling for further action that would prevent any more deaths related to gambling addiction.
The long-time anti-gambling advocate Dr Alan Smith, who has been the Bishop of St Albans since 2009, said that, in his opinion, there was very little evidence that the UK gambling sector was acting responsibly and was engaged with the actual extent of gambling addiction and its detrimental impact on local people’s lives and health. He noted that the country’s gambling industry either did not know or did not want to know about that, so the responsibility of the Government and the local society was necessary to act on the issue.
Campaigners Concerned about Lack of Action against Gambling Addiction and Gambling Harm
For some time now, anti-gambling campaigners have been calling for the Government and the eligible competent authorities to be more proactive and invest more efforts in tackling gambling-related harm.
Recently, in an editorial, The Times has described the records held by the UK Gambling Commission on the investigation of suicides associated with gambling as simply ridiculous and made a suggestion that the industry and the competent regulatory bodies were not taking the detrimental impact of gambling-related harm seriously. The media hub also urged the UK Government to unveil stricter legislation through the ongoing reform of the country’s Gambling Act 2005 in order to actually minimise gambling-related harm. According to The Times, addiction, which is left unchecked by the authorities, is costing people’s lives.
The Christian Institute, on its part, has already warned that the proposed relaxation and deregulation of gambling and gambling legislation in the UK, at the time when the Parliament considered the Gambling Act 2005, would result in an increase in gambling participation and gambling addiction rates.
In addition, the local charity organisation Gambling with Lives, founded by Jack Ritchie’s parents – Liz and Charles Ritchie – has already been proactive in calling for further restrictions to be imposed on the UK gambling sector in order to protect vulnerable customers from potential gambling-related harm. The charity’s founders note that the investigation of their son’s tragic death has revealed the link between gambling and suicide, warning that it has led to the deaths of thousands of people throughout the years due to a lack of stricter action.
The CEO of Gambling with Lives, Will Prochaska, has backed the latest claims of The Christian Institute and explained that the lack of duty on gambling companies to report deaths, along with an equivalent failure to investigate deaths, has made it possible for gambling operators to continue addressing their products with little concern for the possible negative impact they could have on people’s lives.
- Author
Daniel Williams
