Up to 17,000 betting addicts ‘try to take own life every year’

AS many as 17,000 gambling addicts try to kill themselves every year, according to a study.

Another 5,000 also have suicidal thoughts, researchers found. The figures suggest that gambling addicts are around eight times more likely to attempt to take their own lives than the general population.

A team from Swansea University examined responses from 7,000 people. In the previous year 4.7 per cent of problem gamblers said they had attempted suicide, compared with 0. per cent of the wider population. Close to one in five had suicidal thoughts, compared to 4.1 per cent of adults generally.

There are thought to be around 340,000 adults with a gambling addiction in the UK, and a further 550,000 suffering moderate harm.

Campaigners have criticised the Government for failing to tackle the issue. Liz and Charles Ritchie, whose charity Gambling With Lives represents families bereaved after addiction, said: ‘Government and regulators have failed to investigate the well established link between gambling and suicide. The results confirm that gambling addiction is highly correlated with suicide.’

The research, commissioned by the charity GambleAware which is funded by bookmakers, was based on an analysis of data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey in 2007.

Neil McArthur – chief executive of industry regulator, the Gambling Commission – said: ‘The findings clearly show a connection between suicide and gambling. Whilst further research and more timely data collection is essential, we are taking action now to protect people from the risk of gambling harm.’