Key findings

• Key drivers of gambling among women and minority communities include social isolation, financial hardship, and the use of gambling as a coping mechanism to escape cultural or gendered pressures and experiences of discrimination. These drivers are further enabled by the easy accessibility of gambling, particularly through online platforms and late-night betting venues
• Women and minority ethnic and religious communities face several barriers when seeking support for gambling harms, including stigma and shame, mistrust of services, and low awareness of gambling-related harms. These challenges are compounded by a lack of culturally appropriate support and limited understanding or engagement from professionals, such as those in healthcare.
• IOF-funded projects have demonstrated a range of effective and thoughtful approaches to addressing the barriers communities face in accessing support. These include embedding conversations about gambling harm within broader topics like debt and financial wellbeing, and using discreet tools, such as QR codes on leaflets, to encourage informal engagement. Projects have also focused on co-creating culturally and gender-sensitive support with communities, building trust through the involvement of community members and people with lived experience, and bringing support directly into local spaces like GP surgeries, mosques, and churches.