GambleAware Funds Research into Minority Communities

GambleAware has awarded a £300,000 research grant to help investigate lived experiences of gambling harms within minority communities.

There were a number of applicants for the funds, and following the competitive process, they were awarded to two groups. One is led by Ipsos MORI, a well-known market research company and supported by researchers from the University of Manchester. The second is led by ClearView Research.

The study will be conducted over 18 months and will look at underlying factors of gambling harm within minority communities. The research has a number of key objectives, including looking at the communities’ lived experiences of gambling harms, as well as gambling advice and information, support, and treatment services.

They will also be examining whether there are any drivers of gambling harm particular to Britain and what policies may be successful in preventing future gambling harm amongst the communities. The research is due to be published in 2023, with interim reports along the way. These reports will be used to support the five-year strategy of GambleAware as it seeks to reduce gambling harms across all communities.

The grant was £250,000 originally; however, the charity increased it in order to support the collaborative consortium.

Jay St. John Levy - GambleAware Research Lead

The experiences of minority communities around gambling are at present under-researched in Great Britain, yet evidence suggests that these groups are more likely to experience harm from gambling and less likely to access gambling treatment services, compared with white communities. We are very pleased to award this grant to these two consortia, who together bring considerable expertise focusing on people’s nuanced lived realities. This will help explore why these communities experience a greater burden of harm and how to break down the barriers preventing them from accessing services.

This research will better ensure that GambleAware and others can commission a broad range of treatment and support services that work for minority ethnic, language, and religious communities. It is, therefore, an important step towards reducing the current inequalities in gambling harms.

Jay St. John LevyGambleAware Research Lead