A man’s family describes his death by suicide as a consequence of severe gambling addiction, yet securing official recognition of this took years and required legal intervention. Lee Adams, aged 36, placed over 600 bets within a single hour on July 24, 2020, shortly after receiving his monthly salary, then ended his life that same day. His cousin Natalie Ashbolt explained to the BBC that the inquest process became a prolonged struggle from start to finish, as they fought to convince the coroner that gambling played a critical role in his death.
Adams had previously engaged in casual betting, but his gambling escalated dramatically after winning approximately £100,000 in March 2020. Following this large win, his behavior spiraled progressively. Family members encouraged him to stop gambling, warning him not to risk more money, yet he continued placing substantial bets and felt increasingly distressed about his losses. The coroner eventually established that Adams suffered from a long-term depressive illness during the Covid lockdown period and became increasingly dependent on gambling.
The inquest concluded in November 2025, more than five years after Adams’s death. Ashbolt stated that securing legal representation proved essential to forcing the coroner to examine gambling’s role. Without legal assistance, she believes the family would have been unable to achieve this outcome. According to solicitors at Leigh Day, Adams’s inquest represented only the third instance since 2022 in which a coroner formally recognized gambling’s contribution to someone’s suicide, despite research suggesting up to 500 gambling-related deaths occur annually in England.
Ashbolt expressed alarm at how demanding the inquest process proved, worrying that other bereaved families would encounter similar obstacles. She emphasized that coroners appeared resistant to investigating gambling’s link to suicide and that families without financial resources and specialized legal support would struggle to replicate their achievement. The solicitors believe discovered evidence suggests the gambling operator had missed opportunities to identify Adams as high-risk, though the coroner determined these oversights did not directly cause his death.
Charles Ritchie founded Gambling with Lives after his son Jack, a 24-year-old teacher, died by suicide in 2017 while battling gambling addiction. Jack’s 2022 inquest identified him as a victim of «woefully inadequate» gambling warnings and safeguarding measures. Ritchie told the BBC that coroners frequently lack awareness that national suicide prevention strategy recognizes gambling as a significant risk factor and that they possess authority to include gambling evidence within inquest investigations. He noted that families typically cannot navigate legal complexities without specialist representation.
Supporting approximately 150 bereaved families, Ritchie identified the primary challenge as convincing coroners to examine gambling’s role at all. Some families remain absolutely certain gambling represented the primary death factor, yet coroners have refused investigation. Recent guidance from the National Institute for Care and Health Excellence recommends that general practitioners ask patients about gambling habits during routine appointments, similar to inquiries about alcohol and smoking consumption.
The Gambling Commission requires licensees to notify the regulator when they learn that someone using their platform has died by suicide, potentially indicating gambling’s involvement. A Commission spokesperson stated that when such deaths emerge, the regulator investigates whether gambling companies breached regulatory requirements and takes appropriate enforcement action. The Ministry of Justice cautioned that asking coroners to systematically record motivations would not produce dependable data, since coroners frequently possess incomplete information.
