The parents of a young accountant who took his own life after gambling away his salary in a day, have urged the Government and gambling companies to do more to identify and restrict problem gamblers.

Joshua Jones, 23, started gambling during his A-levels but his father Martin said most people would not have known the extent of his problem.

Mum Kim urged the Government to produce advertisements to raise awareness of the harms associated with gambling addictions.

Duty of care

At university, Joshua spent his first term’s student loan within his first week and continued to find ways to gamble, even when his parents took control of his money.

His father said despite being an accountant with a maths degree, “he would still take out payday loans” with “ridiculous interest rates”.

Mr Jones called for gambling advertisements to be banned or severely restricted, and said that MPs who accept hospitality from gambling companies should abstain from voting on the matter as they have a conflict of interest.

“In almost every other sphere, you can spot that there is a duty of care on the supplier of goods and services not to cause harm. It doesn’t exist in the gambling industry”.

Lack of regulation

Last month, a teacher from South Wales revealed how he nearly lost his family after gambling away tens of thousands of pounds.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Desperate Calls, Matthew, not his real name, said he still owes at least £70,000 after regularly staking his salary, while lying to his family and feeling too ashamed to even look at his children.

Now a recovering gambling addict, he used the records of his phone calls to William Hill to expose the lack of gambling regulation, especially online.