The widow of a man who took his own life has filed a legal claim to challenge the gambling watchdog’s decision not to take regulatory action against a betting brand owned by Flutter, the company behind Fanduel.

Luke Ashton, 40, from Leicester, died in 2021 with debts of £18,000, and in 2023 a coroner expressed concerns that Betfair missed opportunities to intervene after his gambling increased. Annie Ashton said the Gambling Commission’s decision to not take further action against Betfair “represents an unacceptable failure to fulfil its regulatory duties”.

Mrs Ashton, according to her lawyers, is arguing that the commission’s refusal to act also “raises serious concerns about its ability to protect people from gambling-related harm”.
She is seeking the permission of the High Court to challenge the commission’s decision by judicial review.

An inquest into Mr Ashton’s death – thought to be the first in the UK in which a gambling firm was named as an “interested party” – found that Betfair should have done more to help him. Coroner Ivan Cartwright said he was concerned Betfair did not meaningfully interact or intervene when Mr Ashton’s gambling activity spiked.

Of the legal claim, Mrs Ashton said: “The coroner’s findings were stark – Betfair failed to identify Luke as being at risk, failed to intervene and missed opportunities to save his life. “The [Gambling] Commission can’t regulate behind closed doors without being publicly accountable for its decisions and its failures to hold the industry to account.”

Read more on the BBC here.