Families call for more recognition of gambling in inquests
BBC••world
Key Points:
- Lee Adams, a 36-year-old from south London, took his own life in July 2020 after placing over 600 bets in an hour, with his family attributing his death to a gambling disorder that escalated after a £100,000 win earlier that year.
- The family's inquest, concluded in November 2025, was a prolonged struggle to have gambling recognized as a contributing factor, requiring legal intervention; the coroner ultimately ruled that gambling disorder and long-term depression contributed to Adams's death.
- Legal experts and campaigners highlight that gambling-related suicides are under-recognized in inquests, with Adams's case being only the third known instance where gambling was acknowledged as a factor, despite nearly 500 such suic
