‘Lewis was living a double life ... he had £60k of debt’
Pete Keogh (70) a retired publisher, lives in Enniskillen with his wife Sadie. Their children are Richard (42) and Justin (44). Their youngest son Lewis (34) took his own life four years ago due to a gambling addiction. Pete says:
Our youngest son Lewis had been living in Leeds for three years. He had a great job as a facilities manager and had a company BMW and all the trimmings of a good life.
He had loads of friends, both at work and in his personal life. He played football and seemed to be very happy and settled.
We had no idea he was living two lives and was a secret gambling addict.
In our family we didn’t know anything about gambling addiction — that it can be a life-threatening disease — until Lewis took his own life.
It was such a shock and something we have to live with for the rest of our lives. Sadie and I will always live with the guilt that we didn’t know what was going on and that we couldn’t help our son.
Looking back, we think the seeds were sown when Lewis was at secondary school. He would go into the arcades on the way home from school and play the machines.
When we went on holiday and were on the boat he was always asking for his pocket money to try to beat the machines. He was only about 10 years old. We truly believe it started then.
But we had no idea of the extent of it. No parent should ever have to go through this. There needs to be more awareness about the dangers of gambling.
Unlike drugs and alcohol it isn’t discussed as a powerful addiction. The fact that it is hidden adds to the distress.
One day Lewis and I were at a football match together and he turned to me in the stand and said ‘Dad, I am an addict. I am addicted to gambling, but it is okay, I can kick it and quit’.
Because I had no idea of the extent of his addiction, I took him at his word. As a former smoker I thought this was just something he could stop doing.
As he lived away from home we didn’t know what was going on in his life. We found out afterwards that even his closest friends didn’t know.
After he died, we found out about Lewis’s double life. There was the one where he paid his mortgage and stayed on top of his bills, and then the other world where he owed over £60,000 due to online gambling.
Every day since he died has been difficult and Sadie and I are still very emotional about it, but we will do all we can to raise awareness.
We have done a lot of research since and read a lot about the subject. An American study has revealed that the endorphins produced by gambling and the hit that comes with it are similar to those of associated with crack cocaine.
In his final words to us, Lewis told us that it wasn’t about the money, it was about the buzz and the hit he got.
We have been to the Houses of Parliament and are campaigning to get the laws on gambling changed.
It is disgraceful that football teams such as Liverpool are sponsored by gambling companies.
I have written to the club on various occasions, but I haven’t got any answers. They advertise during games when young children are watching and being influenced. That isn’t right.
We have worked with the pressure group 38 Degrees and we have also been working with SOSAD (Save Our Sons And Daughters), which is a suicide awareness group in the Republic of Ireland.
If I could, I would like to work to raise awareness in schools, where I believe much of the exposure to gambling begins.
I would also encourage parents of teenagers to have a conversation with them. Check their phone or iPad and make sure they are not mixed up in something they shouldn’t be.
We don’t want another person to end up like our son.
There needs to be more education and awareness about gambling. We were totally ignorant, but others can take action now before it is too late.”