Gambler, 27, killed himself hours after he blew £500 on ‘crack’ machine
A GAMBLING addict who ran up huge debts killed himself on the day that he had blown another £500 on so-called ‘crack cocaine gaming machines’.
Yesterday the father of carpenter ryan Myers, 27, demanded action to limit the damage the fixed-odds devices can cause.
John Myers, 56, also revealed his son – a heavy user of gambling websites – was still being sent offers for free bets after his death.
‘I hate fixed-odds betting terminals with a passion,’ said Mr Myers, who blames them for pushing ryan over the edge. ‘You can lose hundreds in minutes and people get hooked – they should cap how much you can spend.’
The Daily Mail has long campaigned against the negative influence of the terminals, which have helped push up bookmakers’ profits over the past year.
Mr Myers, who was engaged to be married, ran up gambling debts of
‘He had lost all his money again’
thousands of pounds and had resorted to taking out a payday loan to help pay them back. He had also contacted gambling websites asking them to bar him in an attempt to curb his spending.
But his family were unaware of his problems, saying that a few days before his death he had been laughing and joking as usual on holiday with them.
But after losing another £500 on a fixed- odds machine he left a suicide note saying how much he loved his family and fiancee, and that he had transferred his last £300 for her to his father’s account.
An inquest ruled he took his own life at his home in Liverpool in May 2014.
His father, a car factory supervisor on Merseyside, said ryan’s death showed the damage that could be caused by fixed-odds terminals, and has started a petition for tougher restrictions on betting adverts.
Mr Myers said yesterday that the day his son died soon after their family holiday ‘was the worst day of my life’.
He added: ‘We just couldn’t under- stand, but he had lost all his money again that day and felt he’d let everybody down. He must have felt ashamed he couldn’t control it.’
Mr Myers is furious that his son was still getting messages after his death offering him free bets because he had not gambled online for a while.
‘We got access to his email account and there were messages from websites offering him a free £10 bet if he started playing again – it’s disgusting,’ he said.
‘I’m not here to tell people how to spend their money, but the problem now is the industry is taking over town centres and people’s lives.’ Introduced in 2001 when Labour was in power and regulated by Tessa Jowell’s 2005 Gambling Act, fixed-odds betting terminals in bookies’ shops allow users to bet up to £300 a minute on games such as roulette and blackjack.
Ladbrokes makes more than £1,000 a week per machine – up 9 per cent in just a year. Paddy Power and Coral have also seen profits rise.
Last week the Daily Mail revealed how the NHs is resorting to prescribing a drug normally used to help alcoholics and heroin addicts to treat problem gamblers.
The Association of British Bookmakers said: ‘We deeply sympathise with Mr Myers and his family. The industry takes responsible gambling very seriously and we have introduced new measures to help tackle problem gambling.’
These include a code of practice for betting shops and banning adverts for terminals in windows.
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.