Bereaved Mum Backs Calls For Gambling Regulation

4 February 2026
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Helen CattPolitical Editor, BBC South East


A mom whose kid took his own life after becoming addicted to gaming is backing calls from MPs to deal with the routine as a public health danger.


Lesley Wade, from Minster on the Isle of Sheppey, lost her "family orientated" and "fun" child Aaron Armstrong aged 30 in 2014.


She stated it had taken her several years to comprehend that dependency implied "the onus wasn't all on him" to stop gambling.


The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the main market body, stated the "frustrating majority" of individuals who bet do so "safely and responsibly".


'All gone'


Armstrong, who worked as a scaffolder, played in a pool league and was an eager golfer.


He also liked football, typically banking on matches.


She stated her kid significantly started to ask her for cash in 2013.


"I had not confessed to myself the amount of cash he was asking me for at various times," she said.


She recalled one occasion when it was his turn to spend for a Friday morning breakfast he had with buddies.


Wade said: "He rang me up and asked me if I could transfer some money to pay for the breakfast.


"He 'd just been paid that morning and he had no money in his account. It was all gone."


She said she now believes he had been resting on the scaffolding, betting on his phone.


Armstrong's relationship with his partner broke down and he was asked to leave his flat.


The scaffolder went on to seek aid but, in 2014, he took his own life.


After her boy's death, Wade found a variety of emails from gambling firms offering incentives such as financed journeys to see his favourite football group.


She stated: "I found that he had an offer of a totally free bet for ₤ 1,000 and I believed we 'd barred him from all the sites. There were great deals of emails however that's the one that really stood out."


Public health issue


Wade later fulfilled Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Kevin McKenna, who has since made campaigning on gambling harms a top priority.


He is now one of a variety of MPs, consisting of Worthing West's Dr Beccy Cooper, who are marketing for a modification in how society - and the federal government - techniques betting.


McKenna stated there had to do with 500 deaths by suicide related to gambling a year in the nation.


"If it was anything else we 'd be taking a look at it as a public health concern," he added.


It would move the focus from specific duty to identifying it as a threat to the broader population as a whole.


Treating it as a public health problem could consist of actions like higher regulation of betting marketing and removing the most addicting products.


The Betting and Gaming Council said the "frustrating majority" of the 22.5 million individuals who wager in Britain did so "safely" and "responsibly".


According to a Gaming Commission report in 2024, Gambling Survey for Great Britain, 2.7% of grownups stated they had a gambling problem.


The Conservative federal government launched a review of betting policy in 2023.


In 2025, the Gambling Commission provided individuals the right to more control over the direct marketing they get from gambling companies and introduced maximum stakes on online fruit machine.


A government representative said it was "acutely aware" of the impact damaging betting can have and said it was "devoted to strengthening securities to safeguard those at danger".


It introduced the statutory gambling levy which it referred to as a "significant favorable step".


This positions an obligatory charge on licensed betting operators which will be used to money support and research study into betting addiction.


'Bit of enjoyable'


Wade is now part of Gambling With Lives, a group formed by other bereaved parents that offers assistance to households, and campaigns to reform gambling laws.


Chair Charles Ritchie said the majority of its members had actually lost someone "extremely normal, pleased, popular" who had "entered into betting thinking it was a bit of enjoyable".


"That's what we're all told and then when you enter trouble you're effectively informed it's your fault and households hear that also," he stated.


He implicated the industry of promoting a story that it is "something incorrect with the individual, a weak point or defect in their character".


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