Ashley Baker still remembers the day she discovered her partner Kyle Hudson had a gambling addiction.
The couple were in Phillip Island to celebrate Hudson’s 18th birthday and had just been to see the penguins. Back in their hotel room, Hudson became unusually quiet.
He told Baker, who he had been dating since he was 15, that he had gambled away $2000 his mother had given him for his birthday.
“He told me he lost all his money and he wanted to die,” Baker told the first day of the Victorian Coroner’s Court on Monday as part of an inquest into Hudson’s suicide when he was 22 years old.
“It was a really unusual thing for him to say, and I asked him not to say that.”
In a landmark inquest, Victorian Coroner Paul Lawrie is set to probe several factors, including Hudson’s frequent interactions with online betting agencies, such as gambling giant Sportsbet, and how his history of online gambling may have contributed to his decision to end his life on July 6, 2021.
Baker said the only thing she and Hudson fought about during their seven-year-long relationship was his gambling addiction.
“He would set limits for himself, which he always ended up changing … and it would start all over again,” Baker told the inquest. “We were always having conversations about him stopping.”
During the first day of the inquest, the court was told Hudson deposited more than $406,000 into betting companies between 2017 and 2021. Over that four-year period, he was fed almost 500 inducements from various gambling companies and his total losses were almost $48,000, according to a forensic accountant’s report.
Hundreds of those inducements came from Sportsbet, and included offers of “bonus bets”, which are often vouchers or tokens designed to entice a person to place more bets.
The inquest was told Hudson’s gambling triggered Sportsbet’s internal warning, which can signal potential harm, on several occasions. On one occasion, the alarm was sparked after Hudson deposited $3000 on bets in one week. Between 2017 and 2021, the gambling giant contacted Hudson directly 37 times either via emails or phone calls over his gambling behaviour.
Sarah Rizzo, director of customer operations at Sportsbet, provided evidence that many of these internal alerts were reviewed manually by staff, who determined “no further action” was required at the time.
The inquest was told Hudson put self-imposed limits on his Sportsbet account on seven occasions before removing or cancelling them, prompting Lawrie to ask why this was not detected as a “sign of concern” by the gambling giant.
The coroner also questioned Sportsbet’s method of having responsible gambling officers call customers who had been flagged as potential problem gamblers.
These phone conversations last between four and 10 minutes, and are meant to determine whether a person’s betting behaviour puts them at risk.
“We might ask follow-up questions … such as can you explain how you are controlling you betting … What you’re doing to control your betting?” Rizzo told the court.
But Lawrie said Sportsbet appeared to have no option but “to take customer’s answers at face value”.
Rizzo said she accepted there were some limitations to the method, telling the inquest the company’s safety regulations had strengthened since Hudson’s death and if current measures were in place in 2021, his behaviour would have triggered an alert on about 70 occasions.
She also said Sportsbet now sent detailed monthly transaction histories to customers, and continued to try to connect customers with a gambling specialist even if calls were initially unanswered.
On the same day Hudson died at his family home in Melbourne’s outer-west, he placed two online bets worth more than $6000.
Hours after losing both bets, he Googled suicide methods on his laptop. Hudson’s mother found her son deceased in the shed that evening.
The court heard the depths of Hudson’s addiction were unknown to most except for Baker, who grew increasingly concerned about his gambling throughout their relationship.
After a break from gambling, Hudson told her in February 2021 that he wanted to start again, but would stick to a weekly spending limit of $50 and allow her to oversee access to his bank accounts and money. However, over the following months, their relationship broke down, in large part due to his addiction.
In the days before his death, Baker said she observed Hudson becoming increasingly anxious and distressed, with him telling her he had lost his entire life savings to gambling.
Baker said Hudson was adored by everyone who knew him.
“He was the kindest person ever,” she told the court, saying his family and friends were devastated by his death.
Counsel assisting the coroner Stephanie Clancy told the court that in the months before his death there was no evidence Hudson was experiencing significant stress related to his university studies or his casual job.
The 22-year-old had a large circle of friends, some of whom would occasionally place sports bets with him, had a gentle nature and loved sport, the court heard.
Clancy also told the court that Baker and Hudson had a loving, mature and healthy relationship, but his issues with gambling were a source of concern and conflict.
Three online bookmaking giants – Sportsbet, Bet365 and Ladbrokes – are due to provide evidence this week. Lawrie will also examine the banking institutions Hudson had accounts with and used to withdraw large sums of money from to gamble with.
The inquest continues.
Gambler’s Help: 1800 858 858; Lifeline: 13 11 14.
Melissa Cunningham is a health reporter for The Age. She has previously covered crime and justice.Connect via X or email.