A promising life gripped by betting

Kyle Hudson was a 22-year-old Werribee man with a loving partner, family, friends and prospects. Online sports betting had a grip upon him that cost him everything.

“It was a near ideal picture, except for the grip that online sports betting had upon him.”

Coroner finds betting was direct cause

Victorian coroner Paul Lawrie delivered findings on Tuesday that Hudson's online gambling was the direct and paramount causative factor underlying his decision to take his own life on 6 July 2021.

“the direct and paramount causative factor underlying his decision to take his own life”

Betting destroyed his relationship

Hudson's online betting was the indisputable direct cause of the breakdown of his relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Ashley Baker, in the days immediately preceding his suicide.

“Her account of the decline of their relationship makes clear the corrosive effect of Kyle's gambling.”

Massive losses over four years

Hudson opened his first online gambling account with Sportsbet on his 18th birthday in 2017. He gambled $895,733 through Sportsbet and other platforms run by Entain and Bet365 over four years.

Betting alerts ignored by companies

Over four years with Sportsbet, Hudson triggered behavioural alerts within the company's systems on 37 occasions, averaging once every six weeks, with the first occurring within two months of his 18th birthday.

Coroner rejects Sportsbet's denial

Sportsbet argued Hudson was betting within limits and never met their highest risk threshold. Coroner Lawrie said it was chilling that Sportsbet maintained Kyle was not suffering from problem gambling.

“It is chilling that this is Sportsbet's view.”

Inducements catalysed betting behaviour

Hudson redeemed 489 inducements over four years. The coroner found there could be little doubt that promotions and inducements Hudson received catalysed his betting behaviour and had a corrosive impact on safer gambling efforts.

Coroner's recommendations for reform

Lawrie recommended the federal government require online betting companies to display customers' net financial position over time. He also recommended prohibitions on gambling advertising and establishment of a national online gambling regulator.

System cannot be left to companies

The coroner found critical and obvious deficiencies in monitoring and intervention for online gambling harm, which lay mainly with companies themselves.

“The status quo cannot be justified.”