Warren Hughes (Scottish Gambling Education Hub)

Warren started the event with an update on the Hub’s activities. He also shared a video from Darren Crocker of Rule-Ette Out on his experience of gambling disorder.

Tony Kelly (Red Card Gambling Support)

Tony shared his journey through gambling disorder, and his experience of life-changing harms including relationship breakdown and bankruptcy. He highlighted the people close to him affected by his gambling (‘affected others’), and the impact it had on his relationships.

Through his recovery, Tony has written two books on his experiences. He also started the Red Card Gambling Support Project with the aim of supporting others.

Fay Laidler (LEAP Member, Gambling Commission)

Fay shared her experience of gambling disorder and its connection to alcohol use, trauma, mental ill health, relationship stresses, and debt. Her recovery involved a ‘gambling lockdown’ using GAMSTOP and Gamban.

Fay joined the Gambling Commission’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel in early 2021. She hopes to help the Gambling Commission to better understand vulnerability, and how to protect people. She will also begin her PhD research on involving people with lived experience in policy and research in October.

Kishan Patel (TalkGEN)

Kishan shared his experience of gambling harm through a parent’s gambling disorder, and direct harm through his own gambling. He also described events in his life that mirrored Gambling Commission statistics on gambling harm. This gave a moving picture of how real people’s lives can become ‘just statistics’ in research and reports. He also shared Gambling Explained, a detailed report on gambling harms that he wrote with Charlotte Bradley.

As CEO of TalkGEN, Kishan works to guide gambling harm prevention using lived experience. He also co-hosts the All Bets Are Off podcast.