STORIES

Jack Ritchie:

Jack was a 24 year old English teacher that developed a gambling addiction whilst he was in sixth form. 

His betting addiction began by placing small bets on the fixed-odds betting terminals. 

Jack took his own life in Vietnam in November 2017 whilst he was away in Hanoi teaching English.

Charles and Liz Ritchie both now campaign for the charity 'Gambling with Lives' in hope of changes to the gambling legislation.

Kimberly Wadsworth:

Kimberly was 32 years old when she took her own life in 2018 after becomming addicted to gambling.

Her addiction started on fixed-odds betting terminals before she then started playing online casino games where she was listed as a 'VIP Player' and gifted continious free bets.

Kimberly started gambling during her twenties and her gambling rapidly increased after her father passed away.

The addiction worsened when she was continously gifted free bets and promotions eventhough she was already losing large amounts of money.

Since her passing her mother Kay has been calling for more help for women struggling with gambling disorder.

Lewis Keogh:

Lewis was 34 years old when he took his own life. His parents Peter and Sadie only found out about his gambling addiction in his suicide note.

The note read 'I needed some peace, addiction is cruel.'

His parents nor did any of his friends suspect Lewis had a gambling addiction. But, when they found out it was too late.

After his passing his parents discovered his addiction began at the ages of 13/14 when Lewis would play slot machines whilst waiting to get the bus home from school.

Peter and Sadie have since started a campaign to help educate young people about the risks of gambling.

Ryan Myers:

Ryan was 27 years old when he took his own life. Ryan had just got back from a family holiday in Turkey. But, two days after the trip Ryan had taken his own life in 2014.

His parents John and Alison were looking for answers and they eventually found emails, messages, betting slips and they discovered how deep he was in a gambling problem.

Whilst looking through the messages they came across a message that read 'everytime i try to stop, i can not get away'

The gambling companies continued to send free bets and promotions to Ryan even after his death. 

Luke Ashton:

Luke was 40 years old when he took his own life. The father of two travelled over one hundred miles to end his life 2021.

His wife Annie, says he was driven to suicide by a gambling addiction and debt he accured during lockdown.

Annie also said it was just four months between him being sent an email gifting a free bet to him taking his own life.

Mrs Ashton has since started a peition to ban all free bets. This petition is called Luke's Law.