[ad_1]
Lewis Keogh’s parents only found out about his gambling addiction on his suicide note after he committed suicide in 2013.
The 34-year-old from Enniskillen, in Co Fermanagh, had lived and worked in Leeds, and his family and close friends had no idea of his problem.
Peter and Sadie Keogh tell their story to raise awareness about gambling addiction, as a pilot education program in schools by the charity Gambling With Lives begins today.
Peter and Sadie Keogh, Lewis Keogh’s parents
The charity was created by families in the throes of gambling-related suicides.
“Unfortunately, we only found out on his suicide note. He left a note telling us he needed some peace, the addiction is cruel and he sketched it out,” his father Peter explained.
“We really had no idea he was a gambling addict. The same thing happened with his close friends in Leeds, people he’d played football with and gone on holiday with. They knew he was making some weird football bets, But I had no idea he was an addict. They were just completely shocked. “
After his death, his parents began to examine his past in an attempt to discover the root of his attachment.
They believe you can look for Lewis by playing slot machines while he was waiting to look for a bus at home from school when he was 13 or 14 years old.
The extension of his game when he died was a great shock.
“After his death, we investigated his bank accounts and were absolutely horrified by the extent of his game. It was every day or almost every day and a lot of money,” his mother Sadie said.
After her son’s death, Sadie went online to investigate the addiction in an effort to understand the problem, but this had unintended consequences, as shipping game companies sent her alerts inviting her. to bet.
“I would receive emails every day with incentives, from £ 50 for a free bet to a day up to £ 1,500. So even if Lewis has been looking for help for his addiction, as soon as he’s looking for addiction in games, they have been offered incentives to play. It’s ridiculous. “
The couple hopes the campaign launched today will help educate young people about the risks of gambling and prevent other parents from suffering the same loss.
They also expect the program being piloted in schools in Northern Ireland and Britain to be introduced in the Republic of Ireland.
“It’s my hope and Sadie’s hope that we will take this south of the border,” Peter said.
“The game doesn’t stop in Belturbet or any of the border towns, you know. It’s all over Ireland, it’s a small island and we think this program should be available everywhere.”
“He felt he would never be free”
Liz and Charles Ritchie knew that their son Jack had started playing at school when he told them about the loss of money his grandmother had given him.
They worked hard to keep him from playing and believed he had overcome it, but they never understood the depth of his addiction.
Jack Ritchie
The 24-year-old from Sheffield died by suicide while working as an English teacher in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2017.
Her parents say she had been free to play for 18 months before going to Asia.
“I think he thought, and we thought, that he had overcome addiction, but he didn’t, and I think that’s the nature of addiction,” his father Charles said.
“He came back, and it wasn’t about losing huge amounts of money. It was him thinking he could never be free of that. Here he was, he had traveled continents far from where he had been playing, he thought, ‘I escaped him, but he was dragged back. “
Liz and Charles Ritchie
His mother said Jack played back on the websites of British companies, and believes she may have responded to a promotional email urging him to bet.
“The hand of the deregulated betting industry in Britain came around the world to drag it back,” Liz said.
“He hadn’t lost a lot of money, that’s the real point. It was the definition of what the industry calls a responsible player. He was free for months, months and months, and a year at a time, but he was dragged back inside.
Jack Ritchie with his sisters
“Everyone thinks that deaths and suicides are caused by debt. They are not. They are caused by mental health problems that cause gambling, these very addictive forms of gambling. They actually affect the brain and impair your cognitive ability.
“From his suicide note it was very clear that he felt he would never be free and he felt he needed peace.”
He said the motivation for establishing the Gambling with Lives charity game and launching the educational program was to raise awareness among young people and their parents about the risks and highly addictive nature of many gambling products, and in an attempt to prevent others suffer from the same problem. and loss.
“That’s why we set the game with lives. It’s to warn other parents, because no one warned us,” he said.
[ad_2]Source: https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2021/0928/1249448-gambling-education/ [ad_2]
Methadone Clinics In My Area – Methadone Clinics NYC – Methadone Clinics USA
