UK coroner calls for National Lottery to be added to GAMSTOP exclusion after Stephen Goff’s death

The death of Stephen Goff, 54, in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, has put the UK National Lottery and GAMSTOP in the same sentence for a very uncomfortable reason: he was excluded from gambling, but National Lottery draws were not covered. For operators and payment providers, the practical point is simple — the scope of self-exclusion can matter just as much as the licence.

1. The inquest into Goff’s death, which occurred on August 18, 2025, heard that he had spent his bank account on lottery play after gambling excessively. The case prompted senior coroner for Bedfordshire and Luton Emma Whitting to call for the National Lottery to be added to the list of websites and services covered by gambling exclusion.
2. Whitting noted that National Lottery draws are not currently covered by GAMSTOP, the UK’s national self-exclusion program. GAMSTOP blocks access to licensed gambling services such as sports betting and casino products, but the lottery sits outside that net.
3. Whitting has already referred the case through a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to the UK Gambling Commission and GAMSTOP, aiming to raise awareness of the circumstances that led to Goff’s death. The UKGC said through a spokesperson that, although National Lottery draw-based games are generally lower risk than other gambling products, it will consider further changes, including the possibility of extending the scope of GAMSTOP in some form.
4. The UKGC also said it is already in talks with Allwyn, which operates the National Lottery, and with GAMSTOP, to determine whether further consumer protections are needed. In other words, the exclusion framework is being reviewed with the lottery operator in the room, not just after the fact.
5. Goff’s daughter, Freya Geoff, said the National Lottery should be added to the list of blocked websites under GAMSTOP and described its absence as a glaring omission. That is the commercial issue here for high-risk stakeholders: if a product can be used by excluded customers, the exclusion regime is only as complete as its weakest gap.