In response to a Daily Mail audit that exposed the deadly effects of gambling addiction, ministers were urged to “buck up and deliver” on gambling reform.
An analysis found that over the course of a decade, compulsive gambling played a significant role in nearly 100 suicides.
Campaigners claimed that the heartbreaking list of names, which includes 36 of the people shown below, demonstrated “the stark reality” of the suffering brought about by “greedy and amoral” businesses.
Senior Tories have urged Boris Johnson to disregard lobbyists and Treasury penny-pinchers in light of the once-in-a-generation reform’s appearance to be toned down.
People are dying, said Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader. Ministers must now fulfill their promises of transformation.
This week’s anticipated final reform announcement now appears to be postponed.
A schism at the top of the Conservative Party has weakened important steps to reduce the mortality toll from gaming.
The Treasury, which is concerned that reform will reduce its revenue from gaming, is positioned against Minister of Gambling Chris Philp and the Department of Health.
Insiders claim that Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg postponed reform after dismissing a fee to pay for NHS treatment for gambling addiction as “un-Conservative.”
He is rumored to support a modified version of the current system where betting companies voluntarily contribute 0.1% of their earnings to research and therapy. Campaigners, however, demand a legal mandate that they contribute 1%.
According to Mr. Rees-Mogg, the laws shouldn’t prevent gamblers who don’t have debts or addictions from spending their money anyway they like.
The Mail has learned that David Canzini, a former director of a company that had Ladbrokes Coral as a client, is Mr. Johnson’s deputy chief of staff and is supporting him.
However, families demand radical changes.
The gambling corporations are monsters, according to Julie Martin, whose husband Bill Troshupa committed himself in November in front of their 16-year-old son.
In order to prevent people from losing their life and families from losing loved ones, gambling needs to be carefully regulated.
According to Public Health England, 409 suicides linked to gaming occur annually, or more than one every day.
The greatest list ever recorded includes the 94 gaming fatalities that the Mail identified.
They included NHS employee Joshua Hall, 28, who lost half his yearly salary in a matter of days, and 21-year-old Brandon Windeatt-Ball, who gambled away £10,000 earmarked for a down payment on a home.
The gambling businesses are simply greedy, according to Rebecca Hanks, a mother who tried to control her 20-year-old son Mason Moore’s bank account in an effort to help him fight his addiction.
People can make every effort to overcome their addiction, but the bookmakers always manage to pull them back in.
Jordan Choudhury, 25, committed suicide in February 2021 after losing £11,000 playing slots online “through the night.” The next time you see me, I’ll be in my box, he warned his family.
I want the government to stop making it so simple for people to rack up enormous debts on gambling websites, said his sister, Michelle Bidder.
The Mail located 47 suicides with names. An additional 47 families who chose not to speak in public are being supported, according to charities that assist bereaved relatives.
Between 2001 and 2016, the Office for National Statistics also reported another 21, whose death certificates cited gambling, bringing the total number of suicides known to be as high as 115.
However, activists warn that there is rarely a single cause for someone to commit suicide.
Mr. Philp informed his fellow ministers last night that “gambling-related harm is a major public health issue that can destroy lives.”
I’ve heard far too many stories of individuals being misled and being sent to dangerous places. Our gaming laws require reform.
According to insiders, ministers are expected to place limited limitations on gambling advertisements and sponsorships in sports and simply outlaw free bets for extremely bad losers.
However, Sir Iain observed that “people are dying who shouldn’t be dying.” Reform opponents should put down their calculators and venture out into the real world to observe the harm that this out-of-control behavior is causing.
“Unless ministers get serious and take action, things are going to become unpleasant.” Tell me who is acting morally: The Treasury is complaining about taxes, or: We’re fighting for lifesaving measures.
“Everything I hear is unsatisfactory,” declared Lord Chadlington, a former chairman of Action On Addiction.
The government has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save lives, safeguard the weak, and permit those who can gamble responsibly to do so with the least amount of risk.
Stop The Gaming Predators, a campaign by The Mail, tries to reduce online gambling.
In the UK, there may be as many as 1.4 million gamblers who are addicted.
According to experts, 5% of problem gamblers attempted suicide in the year prior.
For assistance, contact Gambling With Lives at support@gamblingwithlives.org or 07864 299 158, or the Samaritans at freephone 116 123.