‘Unwilling’ coroners failed us, say families of gambling addicts who took their own lives

Annie Ashton is campaigning for reform of how the coroner service deals with gambling-related suicides after the death of her husband Luke, who took his own life aged 40 in 2021. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

Families of gambling addicts who took their own lives have told of being let down by the coroner service, which they say failed to properly investigate the role of betting firms, a new report has revealed.

Campaign groups believe that gambling is a factor in hundreds of suicides each year, but in only one completed inquest has a gambling company been named as an “interested person”.