- The UK's largest-ever research initiative to reduce gambling-related harm has been launched by researchers at the Universities of Sheffield, Glasgow, Kings College London and Swansea. It is funded through the government's Gambling Levy and supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
- The new Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre will shape future policy, prevention and treatment for gambling-related harms across the UK - one of the UK's most significant and complex public health challenges
- The University of Sheffield is also leading two new research partnerships that will investigate specific issues related to gambling-related harm
- Harmful gambling is estimated to cost the UK economy around £1.4 billion each year, with impacts spanning healthcare, criminal justice and wider social harms, including depression, financial hardship, family breakdown and suicide
A major new national effort to tackle gambling-related harms and shape future policy, prevention and treatment across the UK is being led by researchers from the University of Sheffield.
The new Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre is the UK's largest independent gambling harms research initiative and will bring together leading experts from across the country to tackle one of the UK's most significant and complex public health challenges.
Funded through the government's Gambling Levy and supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the centre is led by the Universities of Sheffield, Glasgow, Swansea and King's College London.
Harmful gambling is estimated to cost the UK economy around £1.4 billion each year, with impacts spanning healthcare, criminal justice and wider social harms, including depression, financial hardship, family breakdown and suicide.
The launch comes at a pivotal moment for gambling harms policy in the UK, following major reforms set out in the government's Gambling White Paper and the introduction of the statutory Gambling Levy.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield will help drive some of the centre's most important work, including identifying the most effective ways to reduce gambling-related harms and helping governments, health services and other organisations better understand which interventions can make the greatest difference to people's lives.
The University will play a major role in developing future expertise in the field, including new training opportunities and a PhD programme involving students across Sheffield, Glasgow and Swansea. The programme will include placements with policymakers, major research projects and gambling charities, helping researchers develop real-world experience alongside academic expertise.
By bringing together economists, public health experts, policymakers, charities and people with lived experience of gambling harms, the work aims to identify which interventions are most effective at reducing harm and tackling inequalities across different communities. This will help governments better understand the long-term health, social and economic consequences of gambling-related harm, and shape future policy decisions across the UK.
Professor John Holmes, Professor of Alcohol Policy at the University of Sheffield and Director of the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, said: "Gambling harms can have devastating consequences for people's mental health, relationships, finances and, in the most serious cases, leading to loss of life. Yet for too long, there have been major gaps in the evidence available to policymakers, health services and charities working to reduce that harm.
"This new centre is a hugely important step forward. By bringing together leading researchers, people with lived experience and organisations working on the frontline, we have a real opportunity to strengthen understanding of gambling-related harms and identify the actions that can make the biggest difference to people's lives.
"Here at the University of Sheffield, we are incredibly proud to be helping lead research that has the potential to shape better prevention, treatment and policy across the UK."
The GHR-UK Evidence Centre will:
- deliver a major programme of independent gambling harms research
- build capacity and leadership in gambling harms research across the UK
- coordinate a network of 19 Innovation Partnerships focused on gambling-related harms
- work with partners to improve access to data and evidence
- support research that informs policy and practice
Heather Wardle, Professor of Gambling Research and Policy at University of Glasgow and lead for the centre, said: "We're proud to lead UKRI's first ever Gambling Harms Research Evidence Centre. For too long, gambling research has been under-resourced and overlooked.
"New funding through the Levy and UKRI marks a vital reset - strengthening the quality and scale of gambling harms research and ensuring policy is driven by rigorous, independent evidence."
A major focus of the centre will be ensuring people with lived and living experience of gambling harms help shape research priorities and activity.
The centre aims to build one of the most comprehensive independent evidence bases on gambling harms ever established in the UK.
It forms part of UKRI's wider Research Programme on Gambling and will also support future research exploring the relationship between gambling and video gaming, alongside wider social and technological drivers of gambling harm.
Independence from commercial gambling interests is central to the work of the GHR-UK Evidence Centre, with governance structures designed to ensure research remains free from external commercial influence.
In addition to the new centre, Sheffield academics are leading two new research partnerships that will investigate specific issues related to gambling-related harm.
The G-PULSE partnership is a collaboration between The University of Sheffield, The King's Fund and The University of Glasgow to bring together key stakeholders to understand how computer modelling could best help inform policy.
Professor Hazel Squires, Principal Investigator of the G-PULSE partnership and Professor of Health-Related Decision Modelling at the University of Sheffield said: "I'm looking forward to designing a four-year research programme to develop new gambling prevention policy computer modelling for Great Britain which will assess the impact of gambling prevention policies on behaviour, health, costs and fairness between different groups of people to help inform future policy."
Professor Matt Field and Dr Jen Brown are leading a partnership that will focus on treatment, support and recovery.
Professor Matt Field, Professor of Psychology at the University of Sheffield, said: "The UK's approach to tackling gambling harms is undergoing major change, but support for people experiencing harm remains fragmented and inconsistent.
"Many people face a complicated landscape of NHS services, charities and peer-support groups that are often poorly connected, while some communities most affected by gambling harms are also the least likely to access effective support.
"This programme gives us a critical opportunity to identify what works, strengthen recovery pathways and improve understanding of how gambling products, marketing and wider commercial practices contribute to harm."
In the spirit of independent thinking and a shared ambition, this initiative brings together diverse expertise to deliver impact beyond academia.
