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Call for lottery gambling controls after dad's death

Tony FisherBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
Family handout A man with his arms around two young women who are his daughters in a concert stadium. He is wearing a grey T-shirt and has short black hair and short beard. His daughter on the left of the picture has blond hair and his daughter on the right has dark hair with blond streaks.Family handout
Stephen with his daughters Madeleine (left) and Freya (right)

A coroner has called for the National Lottery to be included in a self-exclusion gambling scheme after a man with a gambling addiction took his own life.

Stephen Goff, 54, died from asphyxiation at his flat in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, on 18 August 2025, an inquest heard.

Emma Whitting, senior coroner for Bedfordshire and Luton, said there was a risk of further deaths unless the National Lottery draw was covered by GAMSTOP.

The system prevents people who register with it from accessing gambling websites and apps licensed in Great Britain.

The coroner has sent the Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to the Gambling Commission and GAMSTOP.

A spokesperson for the commission said that following the inquest, they had "been working with Gamstop and Allwyn, the National Lottery operator, to consider whether further protections are needed in this area".

Family handout A man wearing a white shirt sitting at a table in a restaurant. He has short black hair and is smiling. Behind him are other customers and a large window.Family handout
Stephen Goff gambled on the National Lottery Draw, which is not covered by a self-exclusion scheme

The inquest heard that since 2006, Goff had struggled with gambling addiction, which led to the breakdown of his marriage the following year.

Despite self-excluding from all online licensed gambling operators in 2018 and again in 2024 via GAMSTOP, he continued to gamble online with the National Lottery Draw.

His last bank payment from his almost depleted account was to the National Lottery Draw.

His body was found on his sofa on 18 August 2025, and a post-mortem examination concluded that he had died from asphyxiation.

The coroner concluded he died as a result of suicide.

In her PFD report, she raised concerns that by "not including online gambling with the National Lottery Draw in the GAMSTOP scheme, there was a risk that consumers having self-excluded via GAMSTOP will still gamble online with the National Lottery Draw".

Goff's daughter, Freya, said they welcomed the coroner's PFD report, "which highlights the glaring omission that National Lottery gaming products are not covered by the GAMSTOP self-exclusion scheme".

A Gambling Commission spokesperson said that "although National Lottery draw-based games are generally lower risk when compared against other gambling products, we will consider the potential for further changes, including the possibility of extending the scope of Gamstop in some form".

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