Developing an Equitable Public Health Approach to Reducing Gambling Harms
Making Fair Rules to Help Everyone Stay Safe from Gambling Problems
Project Leads: Professor Kate Bedford and Professor Joht Singh Chandan
Objectives
- The goal of the project is to improve the delivery of a fair and equal public health approach to gambling.
- Specifically, this work wants to look at the effects of legal changes and population-based interventions that are meant to reduce harm. How effective have they been?
Why is this research important?
- Nearly half of UK adults have gambled recently, and while often seen as harmless, gambling can lead to serious harms like debt, mental health issues, and even suicide. A public health approach—working across sectors like health, education, and law—is widely supported to prevent these harms and ensure laws addressing gambling are effective and fair for all.
- Right now our ability to tackle gambling harm in a coordinated way is currently limited. We need to better understand whether existing laws are effective and fair, how much harm gambling causes at all levels of society, and which improvements matter most to those affected.
Gambling harms graphic
How will the Research be done?
The project will be broken into 3 steps:
Step 1: To describe the effects of interventional public health laws and regulations intended to reduce harms associated with gambling
- The team will examine research on laws aimed at reducing gambling harm to assess their effectiveness. Then, they’ll consult with people affected by gambling to understand when and why these laws succeed or fail. By combining these insights, they will identify which laws are most effective in preventing harm. They will share their findings with lawmakers, enforcers, researchers, and the public.
Step 2: To explore the breadth of gambling related harms
- The team want to understand the harm caused by gambling. To do this, they will look at different sets of information to find out who is most affected and how big the problems are. They will also run a targeted survey to ask people in communities who may not have had a say before. This will help them learn more about how gambling affects different people.
Step 3: To develop a core outcome set to design a best practice model for studying gambling related legal and population-based interventions
- The first two steps of the project will help with the third step, where experts (including people with experience of gambling harm) will look at the most recent information about gambling harm. Together, these experts will create a longlist of outcomes linked to gambling-related harm. Then they will choose the most important outcomes to focus on.
Involvement of lived experience expertise and wider stakeholder perspectives
The project has strong public involvement and has been created following conversations with:
- members of the public (including people from groups who are often over-looked in health research)
- people affected by gambling harm
- people who work for gambling charities
The research team includes someone with lived experience of gambling harm and members of an organisation that supports underrepresented voices in health research. These experts helped design the study and will remain involved, including sharing findings through YouTube videos and podcasts to reach a wide audience.
The University of Birmingham will also engage with people affected by someone else’s gambling, focusing on its broader impact on families, communities, and society. They will collaborate with groups like Community Connexions and Birmingham CRN.
Benefits for Sandwell
- Better-informed policy decisions: The research can provide evidence on which laws and interventions are most effective in reducing gambling harm, helping local authorities shape more effective strategies.
- Improved public health outcomes: By identifying the scale and impact of gambling harm, the research supports targeted prevention and support services that could reduce mental health issues, debt, and family breakdown in the community.
- More equitable services: Insights into how gambling harms different groups can help local authorities ensure their responses are inclusive and don’t unintentionally disadvantage certain populations.
- Cost savings: Early identification and prevention of gambling-related harm can reduce demand on local services like social care, mental health support, and housing.
- Community engagement: Involving people with lived experience and community organisations can strengthen trust between the authority and local residents, ensuring services are more responsive to real needs.
Research Outcomes
- The findings from this project will support the develop of a subsequent proposal whereby the University of Birmingham will:
- Model the impacts of interventional PH laws and regulations
- Evaluate a key legal change intended to reduce gambling harm
- Evaluate a population-based intervention designed to mitigate the harms associated with gambling
- This work will help ensure that policies and interventions are evidence-based, effective, and fair for all communities.
To learn more please contact Priyanka Sharma:
Or visit:
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/projects/tackling-gambling-harm