After Mr Ashton’s inquest, the coroner issued a prevention of future deaths report, in which he said he was concerned that Betfair appears to judge its responsibilities to customers by industry [regulatory] standards, “rather than current good or best practice”.

The Gambling Commission reviewed the case and confirmed in November that it would not take regulatory action against Betfair.

A spokesperson said at the time that Betfair – run by parent company Flutter – “had been in special measures because of social responsibility and anti-money laundering issues” at the time of Mr Ashton’s death, which resulted in it giving £635,123 to “charities furthering the national strategy to reduce gambling harms”.

They added: “Taking into account the action we have already taken and that new regulatory requirements are now in place, it was considered that no further action would be taken against the licensee in respect of this matter.”

Court officials confirmed the case was at “paper stage”, and was yet to be referred to a judge.