Lewis Keogh Day is an annual football and social event held in Lewis' name and brings past and present Headingley players, friends and family of the Keoghs, and anyone else interested together for a fundraiser and awareness raiser for the charity Gambling with Lives.

Gambling with Lives is a charity set up in 2018 by families bereaved by gambling-related suicide. They support bereaved families, raise awareness of the devastating effects of gambling disorder, and campaign for change. Their vision is a world free from gambling-related suicide, and their mission is to support those bereaved by gambling-related suicide and to improve mental health and save lives through raising awareness of the risks to health posed by gambling.

Lewis, son of Pete and Sadie Keogh, grew up in Lisnarick, a small village in Northern Ireland. Lewis began gambling on slot machines in arcades when he was a schoolboy, as he waited for the bus home. What Lewis thought was an innocent activity became harmful during his teens and early twenties.

After graduating from university, Lewis settled in Leeds, where he worked as a facilities manager and played football for Old Headingley AFC. Lewis was known as the life and soul of the party and his friends and teammates gravitated toward him: one year he even won Players’ Player of the Year.

However, during this period, Lewis started gambling online and harmful gambling became a full gambling disorder, although his illness was unknown to his friends and family. Gambling was seen as commonplace and not a dangerous activity and Lewis remained his “normal” self, apparently enjoying life to the full. But beneath the surface, his gambling disorder was having a catastrophic effect on his mental health.

Lewis took his own life in 2013, aged 34. His parents only found out about his gambling addiction when they read his suicide note, which included the words “addiction is cruel”. Lewis remains central in the collective heart of Headingley AFC who retired his Number 2 shirt when he died, and still hold an annual day which has grown into a tournament and festival – known as “LK Day” – in his honour.