Advocacy and campaigns

We are working to change the UK’s gambling laws in order to reduce gambling-related suicides.

The current legislation – the 2005 Gambling Act – liberalised the regulation of gambling, which has led to a substantial increase in gambling-related harm. What policymakers didn’t foresee in 2005 was the almost universal adoption of the smartphone and other devices, which enabled gambling 24/7 on new fast-paced and highly addictive gambling products.

GwL families and staff.

Our advocacy campaigns

40%
“problem gambling”/at-risk rate for online slot games

Gambling with Lives families have worked with others to achieve vital reforms, including the 2023 Gambling White Paper which led to the introduction of the statutory levy on the gambling industry to pay for independent research, prevention and treatment. In particular, Gambling with Lives has introduced suicide to the discussion on gambling harm. Before the charity’s inception the focus was largely on financial loss and often neglected the serious and widespread impacts on people’s mental health as well as on their family, relationships, and the wider community. We challenged the stereotype that people addicted to gambling were somehow weak, flawed or vulnerable individuals: our experiences showed that anyone can be at risk.

We have collaborated with government and official bodies globally, including Liz Ritchie’s membership of the NICE Guidelines Committee on Gambling Harms. Both Liz and Charles Ritchie are members of the National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group. Charles Ritchie helped establish and was Chair of the Gambling Commission’s first Lived Experience Advisory Panel.

Sir Keir Starmer talks with GwL families and staff at the Labour Party Conference 2022.

Our work has highlighted the central role dangerous products play in causing “problem gambling” and the need to make them safer. Different forms of gambling carry different levels of risk of “problem gambling”: a weekly bet on the National Lottery is far less dangerous than playing on online slots, fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and “in-play” sports betting where bets can be placed quickly and frequently. All those lost by Gambling with Lives families were exposed to highly addictive forms of gambling, while being told it was ‘just a bit of fun’.

Our advocacy and campaigns

Since the charity’s inception in 2018, Gambling with Lives families have met with hundreds of cross-Party Parliamentarians from the House of Commons and House of Lords, government officials, regulators, treatment specialists and many organisations.

We have hosted annual events in Parliament since 2019, which have been attended by Gambling with Lives families; others with lived experience of gambling harm; well over a hundred Parliamentarians from all Parties; senior representatives from a range of health, prevention and regulatory organisations and charities; and public health and other academics.  Speakers each year have included Secretaries of State and Ministers and Shadow Secretaries of State and Ministers from DCMS and DHSC, and senior Parliamentarians.

The Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP speaking at a GwL parliamentary event, with The Rt Hon Lucy Powell, then Shadow Secretary of State at DCMS, Liz Ritchie, and The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer MP, then Secretary of State at DCMS, in the audience

We’ve also provided responses to Government consultations, led petitions and collaborated with many recovering gamblers and affected others. We’ve written many letters to MPs and helped others to do so. If you’d like to write to your MP, please get in touch if you have any questions.

Gambling with Lives families and staff have featured in hundreds of high-profile TV, radio and print media pieces across a wide range of national, local and international outlets. This has included regular contributions to major broadcast platforms such as BBC Breakfast and participation in prime-time television documentaries in this country and overseas, and contributions to national newspapers including the Guardian, Times, Sunday Times, Observer, Telegraph, Daily Mail and Independent – all bringing gambling suicide into the public eye and ensuring bereaved families’ voices are heard. We have also spoken at several national and international gambling reform events, including conferences in the United States, Japan, Turkey and Switzerland.

We support

Gambling should be enshrined in law as a public health issue, and government should legislate accordingly. Those actions should include:

  • Investigation of all gambling-related suicides and lessons learned to prevent future deaths
  • Responsibility for gambling to be transferred to the Department of Health and Social Care to implement a population-based public health strategy
  • Public information on the risk of gambling to health and life, and warnings for dangerous forms of gambling
  • Dangerous products made safer, including slowing down speeds of play and stake limits
  • Classifications and licensing conditions for gambling products based on the harm they cause
  • Effective affordability protections
  • An end to all gambling advertising, including sponsorship of sports
  • An end to all inducements to gamble such as “free bet” bonuses, and VIP and similar schemes
  • The implementation of a comprehensive NHS prevention and treatment programme
  • Training for front-line health and other support workers to recognise, diagnose, prevent and treat gambling disorder in line with the NICE guidelines
  • An independent ombudsman to enforce gambling operators’ duty of care
  • Gambling awareness education delivered in all schools, independently approved and delivered
Lord Don Foster of Bath, Chair of Peers for Gambling Reform, with Liz Ritchie at a GwL parliamentary event.

How to get involved

Keep an eye on our social media channels to find out more about our latest work. In the meantime, you can always:

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