GambleAware publishes new interactive framework showing how inequalities in gambling harm are driven by broader social inequalities

• GambleAware publishes new framework for commissioners, policymakers, researchers, campaigners and treatment and support providers to use as a tool to effectively address inequalities in gambling harm.
• New framework looks at the context and drivers of gambling harms, and barriers people face accessing treatment and support.
• Framework created using evidence and insights from previous research publications funded by GambleAware and also includes recommendations for how inequalities in gambling harm treatment and support can be addressed.

GambleAware has today published a new interactive framework designed to help understand how social inequalities contribute to people experiencing gambling harm, and how inequalities in society can lead to inequalities in gambling harms, where some communities and groups are more likely to experience gambling harms than others.

The framework has been created to help commissioners, policymakers, researchers, campaigners and treatment and support providers address inequalities in gambling harm in the most effective way. It is structured into three sections:

• The context of gambling harms, which are the wider environments or systems that contribute to inequalities in gambling harm. These include geography and neighbourhood; social and community context; regulation and policy; and gambling industry practices such as marketing, or the design and targeting of gambling products.
• Drivers of gambling harms, which underlie the shared experience of gambling harm among diverse groups. These include lack of awareness and education around gambling harm; experiences of stigma and discrimination; social exclusion and loneliness; and financial challenges and social disenfranchisement.
• Barriers in accessing treatment and support, which reduce the availability and accessibility of support options to reduce gambling harm. These include limited awareness of treatment and support; lack of tailored and holistic support; and stigma or discrimination in support settings.

The framework identifies where these factors intersect to provide a more nuanced and whole picture of inequalities in gambling harm. 

The framework was created using evidence and insights from research publications funded by GambleAware, including those that investigated different groups’ experiences of gambling harm, such as children and young people, women, neurodivergent people, LGBTQ+ people, and ethnic minority communities¹. It also incorporates research publications that look at the impact of stigma, racism and structural discrimination; the influence of gambling marketing and advertising and how to improve safer gambling messaging; harm associated with certain gambling products; and evaluations of gambling treatment and support provision.  

Inequalities in gambling harms often reflect and exacerbate existing health and social inequalities, and intersect with other public health challenges such as homelessness, alcohol, smoking, mental ill-health and suicidality. The framework shows how these broader experiences and inequalities disproportionately affect people who face marginalisation, as well as those who are socially and economically disadvantaged and people from minority ethnic backgrounds.

The framework also includes recommendations for how inequalities in gambling harm treatment and support can be addressed. These recommendations include understanding and reducing stigma as a barrier to equal access, enhancing communication support to address language-based inequality, and committing to co-production and lived experience approaches. 

Anna Hargrave, GambleAware CEO, said: “Gambling harms can affect anyone, however they are experienced unequally across society, with those already facing inequality and marginalisation bearing a disproportionately high burden. That is why we have produced this framework, to highlight the disparities faced by different communities.

“To reduce gambling harm for those who bear its highest burdens, inequalities must be addressed through a whole system approach which works for all people, no matter what their background or part of the country they live in.”

Read the executive summary or the full report 

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1.    Publications are available in GambleAware’s publication library