A 24-year-old English teacher who killed himself after battling a gambling addiction started betting on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) when he was at school aged 16 or 17, an inquest heard.
Hull University history graduate Jack Ritchie died in Hanoi, Vietnam, after years of gambling problems, a hearing in Sheffield was told on Monday.
His parents, Charles and Liz Ritchie, from Sheffield, believe that failures on the part of UK authorities to address gambling issues contributed to their son’s death and have campaigned for reform through the Gambling With Lives charity they set up.
In a statement read to the inquest, Jack’s friend Nick Clough described how they started going to bookmakers when they were under-age, in sixth form, and at first bet small amounts on FOBTs.
At first, Mr Clough said, his friend would try and double his money “to get a free lunch”.
But he said: “With Jack it became more than that.”
Mr Clough said that his friend won £1,000 in under 30 seconds and, after that, Jack’s attitude towards gambling changed as he began chasing his losses and looking for the big win.
Witnesses whose evidence was read to the inquest described how no-one realised the extent of Jack’s problems until after he took his own life while teaching English in Vietnam on November 22 2017.
Forensic evidence presented to the inquest showed he was a regular visitor to the BetVictor online gambling website in the days leading up to his death.
Mr and Mrs Ritchie believe the inquest, which is due to last two weeks, is the first so-called Article 2 inquest in a case relating to suicide following gambling.
This means its scope will include an examination of whether any arm of the state breached its duty to protect Mr Ritchie’s right to life.
The couple believe an undiagnosed gambling disorder lay behind their son’s death and have argued there were no public health warnings about the risk to life posed by gambling products, and that their son was not diagnosed or offered treatment that linked his symptoms to gambling disorder.
At the start of Monday’s proceedings, senior Sheffield coroner David Urpeth said the evidence will cover topics including what information was available to Jack and his family about the risks of gambling and also what medical treatment was available to him.
Mr Urpeth said that his examination of how Sheffield United fan Jack died will include “whether gambling caused or contributed to his death”.
The coroner said he understood Mr and Mrs Ritchie wanted the scope of the inquest to be an even wider analysis of Government gambling policy and told them: “I do not want the family to think I am disinterested in their wider concerns. It’s just that such concerns are beyond the power invested in me.”
The inquest began in Sheffield Town Hall with a video montage of happy moments from Jack’s life.
Following this, Mr Ritchie gave a pen portrait of his son in which he said: “Right up to the time of Jack’s death, he appeared to be the wonderful, caring, friendly and happy young man that he had always been.
“While clearly the addiction to gambling lurked within him, he was to all intents and purposes a fine young man, on the threshold of his life, enjoying himself with a group of close friends with no obvious signs of depression or anxiety.”
He said he spoke to many of Jack’s friends after his death. Mr Ritchie told the inquest: “They had all known that Jack gambled, but no one had understood the nature of the addiction.
“No one had thought that his life might be in danger.
“So many of them said that if he had been taking hard drugs they would have spoken to him. They would have warned him. They would have spoken to us.
“But, actually, all they had seen was their brilliant friend being the same as he had always been – an enormous personality that they looked forward to meeting up with and having a laugh.”
He concluded: “As a family we have a lifetime of memories of our beautiful boy who brightened and enhanced our lives with his warmth, enthusiasm, energy, intelligence, humour and love for nearly 25 years.”
Among those due to give evidence later in the inquest are senior officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Gambling Commission.
