The widow of a gambling addict who took his own life after accumulating £18,000 in debt is set to initiate legal proceedings against Betfair on Thursday, a case that could have significant implications for the UK gambling sector.
Luke Ashton, a 40-year-old from Leicester, died in April 2021 after struggling with a gambling disorder that led him to place thousands of bets with the company. Betfair had sent him promotional 'free' bets during this period.
Legal representatives for the Ashton family argue that Betfair acted negligently by failing to intervene as his losses mounted, thereby breaching its duty of care and being liable for his death.
If successful, this claim would mark the first instance where a betting operator is found to owe a duty of care to customers exhibiting signs of problem gambling.
In a defence filed with the High Court, Betfair, a subsidiary of the £13 billion international gambling conglomerate Flutter, denied any such duty of care. The company contended that Ashton had not disclosed his gambling disorder and that his financial losses resulted from his 'own contributory negligence' and external mental health factors.
Ashton had enrolled in temporary self-exclusion from gambling with Betfair on three occasions but resumed betting each time after the exclusions ended, ultimately losing £21,777 over three years.
In March 2021, following a period of intensified gambling while furloughed during the pandemic, he placed over 1,000 bets and incurred a net loss of £5,500. According to the claim, the volume of 'free' bets he received also increased during this time, the month before his death.
Betfair's legal team argues that Ashton would have lost the money with another operator if not with them, and that the company had rigorous safer gambling measures in place.
The Ashton family is seeking damages of £846,478, which includes the profits Betfair made from Luke and financial losses such as the earnings he would have provided to his family had he lived.
Lawyers from Leigh Day, representing the Ashton family, will aim to establish that Betfair had a duty of care to Ashton that it failed to uphold.
Previous similar claims attempting to hold firms liable for failing to prevent substantial losses by customers with gambling problems have been unsuccessful.
If the Ashtons' case succeeds, it could open the door to millions of pounds in new claims against the UK gambling industry, which earned over £12 billion from British customers last year.
An estimated 1.4 million adults in Britain have a gambling problem, according to a study for the Gambling Commission last year, using new methodology that has led to a higher estimate of the issue's prevalence.
In 2023, a coroner criticised Betfair for its role in Ashton's death, noting that 'more efforts to intervene or interact should have been made'.
Ashton voluntarily entered a six-month self-exclusion from betting in 2017. He later opted out of receiving promotional material from Betfair Exchange, the company's peer-to-peer betting platform. However, this opt-out did not apply to promotions on other parts of the Betfair website and app, where he participated in several 'free bet' or cashback offers between 2018 and 2021.
The 2023 inquest heard that Ashton had left notes for his wife and children before his death that twice mentioned gambling and admitted he had 'demons'.
A spokesperson for Flutter said: 'We reiterate our sincere condolences to Mrs Ashton and her family over this tragic case. Unfortunately, we are unable to comment further at this time because of the legal proceedings.'
