Understanding gambling harms among communities experiencing marginalisation and inequality

About the study

Gambling harms are defined as the adverse impacts from gambling on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities, and society. These harms impact people’s resources, relationships and health, and can be created, influenced, or exacerbated by broader societal structures and inequalities. 

The National Centre for Social Research received funding from GambleAware to conduct six scoping reviews focused on understanding rates and drivers of gambling harms, as well as barriers and facilitators to treatment and support. Our method involved a rapid evidence assessment (REA) approach.

The six communities discussed in this report are: 

1. Criminalised and / or moralised communities 
2. Migrants in vulnerable circumstances and transient communities
3. People living with disabilities, neurodiversity and / or mental health challenges
4. People with experience of unemployment, peripheral employment, or insecure employment
5. People who experience or are at risk of homelessness
6. Older people

Findings

The study found evidence of higher rates of gambling harm for some specific groups – in particular, communities of people experiencing homelessness and poverty (including those on low incomes and those living in deprived areas), people with experience of migration, some people with experience of drug use, people living with certain mental health challenges and people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

It was clear that key underlying drivers are affecting multiple groups and leading to higher levels of gambling participation and gambling harm. Many of these factors are linked to wider societal issues including structural inequality, accessibility of public / social spaces, financial exclusion and poverty, social exclusion, discrimination, and criminalisation. These drivers included: 

• The use of gambling as a mechanism to cope with difficult emotions or experiences;
• Factors influencing the need for entertainment / social (e.g. loneliness / isolation);
• Gambling / gambling venues being perceived as accessible and inclusive when compared to other options for social connection or entertainment / stimulation which excluded people from these communities;
• Financial motivations linked to low incomes or financial responsibilities (e.g. caring for dependents).

Overall, these scoping reviews have shown there is an urgent need for further research in Great Britain to explore gambling harms amongst communities experiencing marginalisation, isolation, or criminalisation. This is due a lack of current evidence and a clear indication that these communities bear disproportionate burdens of harm that is not appropriately met by available services.

Methodology

This project involved a rapid evidence assessment approach (REA) to enable efficient data collation, review, synthesis, and appraisal. Both academic and grey literature were included in the reviews, and papers were screened at two stages: (1) title and abstract and (2) full-text. The screening was conducted via the online platform Covidence. Following the screening process, papers which met our inclusion criteria were shared with subject matter experts, who were asked to identify any key, relevant papers that had been missed. 

To bring the literature together, a data extraction tool was developed to capture key findings of relevance to the research questions including rates of gambling harm among communities of interest, drivers of gambling and gambling harms, and findings related to gambling harm support services and healthcare. The tool also captured limitations of the papers including any stigmatising language used or generalisations made about communities, as well as the involvement of communities of interest in the research.