Bereaved Mum Backs Calls For Gambling Regulation

4 February 2026
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Helen CattPolitical Editor, BBC South East


A mom whose boy took his own life after becoming addicted to gaming is backing calls from MPs to treat the habit as a danger.


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


She said it had actually taken her many years to understand that addiction indicated "the onus wasn't all on him" to stop gambling.


The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the main industry body, said the "overwhelming majority" of people who bet do so "securely and responsibly".


'All gone'


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


He likewise liked football, often betting on matches.


She stated her boy progressively began to ask her for money in 2013.


"I hadn't confessed to myself the amount of cash he was asking me for at different times," she stated.


She remembered one celebration when it was his turn to pay for a Friday morning breakfast he frequently had with good friends.


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


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


She said she now thinks he had been sitting 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 assistance however, in 2014, he took his own life.


After her boy's death, Wade found a variety of e-mails from gambling companies using rewards such as financed journeys to see his favourite football group.


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


Public health concern


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


He is now one of a number of MPs, including Worthing West's Dr Beccy Cooper, who are campaigning for a change in how society - and the federal government - techniques betting.


McKenna stated there were about 500 deaths by suicide related to betting a year in the nation.


"If it was anything else we 'd be looking at it as a public health issue," he included.


It would move the focus from individual duty to identifying it as a danger to the wider population as a whole.


Treating it as a public health problem could consist of actions like greater guideline of gambling advertising and removing the most addicting products.


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


According to a Betting Commission report in 2024, Gambling Survey for Great Britain, 2.7% of grownups stated they had a betting issue.


The Conservative 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 receive from betting companies and introduced optimal stakes on online fruit machine.


A government representative said it was "acutely mindful" of the impact damaging betting can have and said it was "devoted to enhancing protections to secure those at threat".


It introduced the statutory gaming levy which it described as a "major positive step".


This puts a mandatory charge on licensed gaming operators which will be used to money support and research into gambling dependency.


'Bit of enjoyable'


Wade is now part of Gambling With Lives, a group formed by other bereaved moms and dads that provides support to families, and projects to reform gambling laws.


Chair Charles Ritchie said most of its members had actually lost someone "extremely normal, pleased, popular" who had "participated in gambling believing it was a little enjoyable".


"That's what we're all told and then when you get into difficulty you're effectively informed it's your fault and families hear that too," he stated.


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


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