It has identified ten interconnected themes which explain why and how gambling harms can develop, intensify and lead to suicide and suicide attempts, including gambling products and marketing, industry practices, the individualisation of responsibility, shame and stigma, gaps in support, financial harms, and regulatory concerns.
Gambling and Suicide: A Psychological Autopsy and Qualitative Inquiry was led by Loughborough University’s Professor Amanda Roberts, in partnership with Gambling with Lives, GamLEARN and GamFam. It was funded by Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO).
Other key findings from the study are:
- Documentary records revealed patterns of intense or renewed gambling activity and significant financial losses, often occurring close to periods of suicidal crisis.
- In one case, gambling operator records showed more than £100,000 in inducements during a prolonged period of gambling losses.
- Cases of gambling-related suicide and serious suicide attempts involved people from diverse backgrounds and circumstances – reinforcing the message that gambling harms can happen to anyone.
- Findings suggest gambling-related suicide is shaped by interacting social, psychological, financial and environmental factors, and doesn’t follow a fixed pathway.
The research drew on 20 in-depth interviews with survivors and bereaved or affected family members, alongside focus groups involving people with lived experience. Participants came from a wide range of backgrounds and life circumstances. Researchers were also able to examine documentary evidence, including financial, gambling operator and health records, for some of the participants. This enabled them to build a detailed picture of the factors and circumstances associated with gambling-related harms and suicidality.
Drawing on all of the evidence gathered, researchers identified ten interconnected themes. These themes are:
- The role of high-speed gambling products, online accessibility, marketing and inducements in sustaining gambling activity
- The normalisation of gambling through sport, entertainment, advertising and digital environments
- Limited understanding among individuals, families and professionals about the risks of gambling and its links to mental health and suicide
- The emphasis on individual responsibility within the “responsible gambling” narrative, which participants described as reinforcing self-blame when control was impaired and diverting attention from products, commercial practices and structural weaknesses
- Concerns about gaps in regulatory systems and protections designed to identify and respond to escalating gambling-related harms
- The role of shame, secrecy and stigma in preventing people from seeking help
- Significant financial harms, including losses, borrowing and debt, which frequently combined with feelings of entrapment and despair
- Missed opportunities to identify gambling harms in healthcare and mental health settings
- Recurring patterns of lapse and renewed gambling activity, often triggered by stress, advertising or easy access to gambling products
- Experiences of increasing entrapment, where participants described feeling that available options for resolving harms had narrowed significantly
Speaking about the research, Loughborough’s Professor Amanda Roberts said: “By bringing together the experiences of people directly affected by gambling-related suicide with documentary records, this study provides new insight into how gambling harms can develop and contribute to suicidal crises. Too often, gambling-related suicide is viewed primarily through the lens of individual vulnerability or personal choice.
“Our findings highlight the role of gambling products, marketing and inducements, alongside gaps in safeguards, recognition and support. Across these cases, people described mounting gambling losses, financial difficulties, shame and increasing feelings of entrapment, with missed opportunities to recognise and respond to the harms they were experiencing.
“These findings highlight the need for stronger safeguards to prevent gambling harms, earlier recognition when people are struggling, and effective support before a crisis develops.”
Charles Ritchie MBE, co-founder of Gambling with Lives, added: “This groundbreaking research is the first UK study of its kind to examine in depth how gambling contributes to suicide. It provides important new evidence of the patterns, harms, attitudes and missed opportunities that can lead to people taking their own lives.
“It has important lessons for government, the regulator, treatment specialists, suicide prevention organisations and the public on changes that could help prevent gambling-related deaths.”
Chloe Long, a Trustee at Gambling with Lives who lost her brother to gambling-related suicide, said: “The most striking finding from this study is that, despite vastly different backgrounds and circumstances, people experienced serious gambling harms, often hidden from those closest to them. These findings challenge assumptions about who experiences serious gambling harms and reinforce that gambling harms can affect anyone.”
The study was developed in close partnership with people with lived experience, who played an integral role throughout. They were fully involved in the design and delivery of the research, as well as the analysis, interpretation and reporting of the findings, ensuring lived experience perspectives informed every stage of the project.