Son of gambling addict calls for better support for minority communities

A junior doctor whose father battled a gambling addiction has called for greater support for ethnic minorities.

Dr Kishan Patel, based in Wolverhampton, said his father Roy gambled "tens of thousands of pounds" away before he died.

A gambling white paper is set to be published by the government, outlining measures to tighten regulations.

Up to 20% of black, Asian and minority ethnic adults experience problems related to gambling.

This is compared with 12% of white adults, research from the charity Gamble Aware and YouGov found.

The research also highlighted 17% of problem gamblers from ethnic minority communities lived in the West Midlands, compared with "12% of the broader population from BAME communities".

Mr Patel, said his father Roy, from Bolton, had "two different personalities" due to his dependency on gambling.

He said his father, who died from a heart attack in 2013, had gambled away thousands of pounds every year, meaning the family sometimes could not afford basic necessities, such as food, fuel, clothing and transport.

"My experience and my childhood is I think dominated by gambling harm. I grew up with it, and if you can imagine, both my parents were suffering from gambling-induced poverty," he said.

"We as a family were all suffering from the poverty of not having funds because of gambling, because of my dad's gambling."

Mr Patel said the family had only recently managed to pay off the remainder of his father's debt.

He said he thought his father had started gambling to cope after losing his parents, but his addiction grew and eventually affected his health.

He forgot to take important medication, and stopped eating and drinking properly, while his sleeping also suffered.

Despite his experience as a child, Mr Patel said he had himself turned to gambling in his first year at university, but had managed to stop.

Since then, he has co-founded the Gambling Harm UK charity to support those suffering from the effects of gambling.

Mr Patel said there needed to be better support for problem gamblers within ethnic minority communities, to challenge the "stigma" within different cultures.

"My dad was pretty British in terms of his outlook on life and spoke fluent English," he said.

"But I know there's people who don't speak English, who might actually need the services in different languages, that are culturally appropriate and focus on the different aspects of stigma."

Asma Akbar, from the gambling awareness organisation Ygam said many from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities feared they would be disowned.

"It's forbidden so why is it even happening, they say - so this causes people who are suffering from gambling-related harms to not want to talk about it or even access help."

"There are services available for people from ethnic minority communities, but there still needs to be work done around making sure that psychologists, therapists and counsellors are culturally aware of what conversations they need to have with people that are suffering from gambling harms within those communities."

A spokesperson from the Gambling Commission said it expected businesses to follow rules to make gambling safer and would take action if any failed to meet their responsibilities.

If you have been affected by themes raised in this article, help is available from the BBC Action Line

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]