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Betfair’s algorithm failed to see ‘red flags’ in Leicester dad Luke Ashton’s betting behaviour
A betting company’s algorithm supposed to spot customers at risk of harm failed to spot the ‘red flags’ in a Leicester man’s betting behaviour, leading him to take his own life, an economist has told an inquest. Luke Ashton, 40, took his own life on April 22, 2021, after becoming “consumed” by gambling, losing thousands of pounds in the months prior to his death on the betting website Betfair.
On Wednesday, Leicester and South Leicestershire coroners heard that Mr Ashton had been betting more than 100 times a day, including early in the morning and late at night when his wife Annie was asleep. On Friday, an economist and gambling expert, Professor David Forrest, spoke of his findings after completing a report for the inquest.
In the coroner’s court, he said he believed Betfair – a company which Mr Ashton had been a customer with since 2012 – had failed to identify that he was at risk of harm. Professor Forest said that despite the “red flags” in Mr Ashton’s betting activity, including the number and frequency of bets as well as the increasing amount of money he was depositing and losing, Betfair’s algorithm did not identify his as being at risk.
READ MORE: Betfair says it ‘should’ve done more’ to protect gambler who took his own life
Professor Forrest explained that the model, which is a machine-learning algorithm that is run every day to test and analyse the behaviour of Betfair’s customers, should have flagged Mr Ashton as being at risk. This would have led to further steps being taken, including a phone assessment to discuss his behaviour and betting patterns or just directly placed a ban on his account.
Instead, Mr Ashton was deemed a low risk and only received eight automated “awareness” emails, which asked him to consider things like how much he spent on Betfair’s site and whether he wanted to take a time out. At the hearing on Thursday, Richard Clarke, the managing director at Betfair’s parent company, Flutter, said that it was clear the firm could have done more at the time.
Professor Forrest determined that Betfair should have taken “stronger action based on the evolution of his betting”, and that he was “very surprised” the activity had not been picked up by the company’s algorithm. He pointed out that there was a clear “escalation” in Mr Ashton’s betting activity in February 2021, with his activity in March showing he was putting down substantially larger bets and evidence he was trying to chase his losses.
On March 5, 2021, there was reasons to believe Mr Ashton had “lost control”, with the “excessive time spent and higher bets” being made on Betfair’s website. At the end of March, Betfair sent Mr Ashton another automated email asking him if he wanted to take time out from betting, despite there being days he would place more than 100 bets.
Professor Forrest said these interventions were “weak”. He suggested that if a human had been involved in the risk-identifying process, rather than relying on algorithms, bigger steps could have been taken to protect Mr Ashton.
He told the court: “There could have been an option to discuss self-exclusion over the phone, to get some background on what was happening as he may have been experiencing harm, or a forced exclusion.”
He said Betfair had not been “significantly curious” about its customers’ background or behaviour, and that the threshold for identifying harm was too high. Representing Flutter, Philip Kolvin KC said lowering the threshold could have placed an “unmanageable” load on the company and would have resulted in a number of false positives and negatives.
Betfair says it is confident the company complied with the rules and the regulatory framework in place at the time, but accepted that changes have now been made that would prevent a customer in Mr Ashton’s circumstances from being able to repeat the same pattern of betting.
Get help with gambling addiction
If you, or someone you know, have been affected by gambling, the following organisations may be able to help.
The National Gambling Helpline
Pperated by GamCare, it offers confidential support, advice, and free counselling to people concerned about their gambling, or the gambling of friends or family.
Phone: 0808 8020 133
Webchat available
Visit The National Gambling Helpline.
For information and advice for young people visit the BigDeal website.
Gamblers Anonymous
The organisation provides a list of support meetings for problem gamblers. For residents in England, Wales and Northern Ireland visit the Gamblers Anonymous website.
For residents in Scotland visit the Gamblers Anonymous website.
Gam-Anon
Gam-Anon is a fellowship of men and women who have been affected by someone else’s gambling.
Visit the Gam-Anon website.
The day before Mr Ashton was found dead, he had sent a message to his wife saying the company he was doing part-time delivery work for had asked him to go to Scotland and he needed to turn his phone off to save battery. The next day, Mrs Ashton reported him missing to the police and his colleagues confirmed he had not been asked to go to Scotland.
His phone was tracked to an AirBnB flat he had rented in South Yorkshire where his body was found. The inquest was due to finish on Friday but due to schedule delays, will continue on a date that has yet to be decided.
- Anyone who needs support can call Samaritans free of charge on 116 123, email [email protected], or visit the Samaritans website.
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