The weariness was palpable as members of campaign group Gambling With Lives gathered in the Churchill Room at the House of Commons last Wednesday. The group, founded by bereaved parents whose children took their own lives after a struggling with a gambling addiction, has been waiting six years for an overhaul of UK betting laws. During this time, co-founders Liz and Charles Ritchie have met 12 ministers with responsibility for gambling policy.
A white paper outlining a proposed shakeup, promised since December 2020, has been repeatedly postponed, to the dismay of addiction clinicians and campaigners, who say despairing addicts are being failed by the current lax regulation.
