Loving Father to Take His Own Life Because of Gambling Addiction

Gambling Addiction Drove Loving Father to Take His Own Life After Spending £111,000

June 1, 2020October 15, 2021 Doris Jensen

A good game of gambling regardless of the type and form, could bring joy into someone’s life and bring in some extra cash for that person. One might see this as a leisure activity or as a career playing in huge tournaments. Regardless of this, one thing is for sure that these people possess some kind of threshold and limit their playing successfully and will not let their greed take over.

Loving Father to Take His Own Life Because of Gambling Addiction

This kind of threshold is a must-have as online gambling is easily accessible to everyone nowadays. Online gambling websites such as Mega888 or Online Casino Malaysia are some of the named websites that one can find online these days. However, the same cannot be said the same for John Evans, 32. He took his own life after facing “significant financial problems” and racking up debts from online gambling websites.

He is what others would describe as a loving husband and dad to his wife and kids, ending his own life after he could not cope with the stress of facing the enormous gambling debts he has raked up.

According to the inquest, it was revealed that for the past 11 years, the father of three lovely children had spent more than £111,000 in online bookmakers as well as betting shops including more than £53,000 in the last six months before his death, with losses amounting to £19,000.

Through some searching over his belongings after his death, police discovered a note where the late Mr Evans wrote about his gambling addiction in a note. He also said that he had kept this a tight secret hidden from everyone; including his wife Lucie. It also read “This monster living inside me has ruined my life”.

When Lucie asked about her husband, she had described him as the “perfect” husband and had also shared a really powerful message urging anyone who is currently suffering at the hands of similar demons to seek help for it will be too late if nothing is done to curb and prevent the unwanted from happening.

The inquest heard Mr Evans was last seen on March 17 after dropping his older son from a previous relationship with his mum. After that, it was understood that he then hung himself in a wooded area, close to 800 metres away from his car which he has left parked at the car park. All was as usual during the course of the day. However, Mr Evans has not been seen or heard all day and his concerned wife Lucie raised the alarm when he did not re-appear that night.

A full-on search and rescue operation was then launched which involved a helicopter, heat-seeking camera, sniffer dogs and members of the Cornwall Search and Rescue Team. The operation carried on throughout the night and Mr Evan’s body was eventually discovered the following day.

Further investigation of his bank accounts revealed the extent of Mr Evan’s gambling addiction with bets on the two sites ranging from a few pounds to £1,500 to £2,000. In the months before his demise, it was known that Mr Evans had borrowed £20,000 from his father to help him pay off other debts, particularly on his car as it was about to be repossessed, but was being used to gamble on various sporting events. Detective Sergeant Stephen White, who led the investigation, told the inquest at County Hall in Truro that Mr Evans’ first partner had left him because he had gambled away £30,000 which had been put aside as a deposit for a house.

Assistant coroner Guy Davies said that most of the gambling sites operate on a pay-as-you-bet basis with money coming directly out of people’s bank accounts, without requiring any deposits being made onto the sites. Saving all the hassles and making it quite easy to place their bets. The recording of suicide conclusion by Mr Davies mentioned that “This is a case in which Jowan Evans struggled with his hidden gambling addiction which led him to take his own life. There had been nothing to warn his family about what went on in his mind. There was no cry for help. Police investigation revealed a note left in his van. It was clearly a suicide note. In it he mentioned how he gambled his money away again and again. Jowan had significant financial problems and longstanding gambling addiction and unpaid finance as well as unrepaid loans from family members. For him, it was an accumulating wall of debt. He took his own life as a direct result of his gambling debt and his perception to beat his gambling addiction.

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Doris Jensen

Doris is a professional casino blog author that writes about everything about the online casino industry.