The Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre will direct research on how to better tackle gambling harms.
It will work with the UK Government, health bodies, charities and people who have lived experience with gambling – in addition to the broader research community to produce and implement more accurate, evidence-led research.
A UK first
The centre is funded through the Government’s gambling levy and will help strengthen new policies and the public’s perception of the risks in the UK.
Led by the Universities of Glasgow, Sheffield, Swansea and King’s College London, it will manage a comprehensive research programme on gambling harms, collaborate with stakeholders and explore how the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and other data assets can support new evidence.
The Government’s gambling levy is split across three different strands – treatment, prevention and research.
The GHR-UK Evidence Centre is led by Heather Wardle, Professor of Gambling Research and Policy at the University of Glasgow, with partners at Kings College London, University of Sheffield and Swansea University.
Wardle 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. Putting lived experience at the heart of our work, we look forward to collaborating widely to deepen understanding of and reduce the serious harms associated with gambling.”
Another focus will be to coordinate the cohort of 19 GHR-UK Innovation Partnerships that will cover a range of topics such as the structural drivers of gambling harm and gambling online and in video games.
The centre will work with Innovation Partnerships and will generate evidence, build research capacity and inform policies and practices across the UK.
Lived experience
People who have real, first-hand experience of gambling related problems will be a crucial part of the research and the GHR-UK Evidence Centre appointed Martin Jones as a lived experience lead. Jones has personal experience with these issues, having directly felt the impact of gambling-related tragedy.
His work with several different research, educational and charitable organisations has brought much needed perspective to the ongoing battle and Jones recognises how important the data will be saying, “Research isn’t an intellectual exercise sitting in isolation, it is and should be closely linked to real gambling harms affecting real people, as many of us know all too well.
"We need to do much more to prevent these harms, and coordinating top quality research will support this, especially by exploring the more complex areas around suicide, algorithms, and financial data.”
Free from industry involvement
The centre’s independence from external commercial gambling parties is vital to the work it is doing and guarantees that the evidence-based research produced by the GHR-UK will remain protected and not interfered with.
Further investments will be made in the future from the GHR-UK Evidence Centre and UKRI, including research on the convergence between gambling and video gaming.
The UKRI and the Gambling Commission are accountable for investing 20% of the funds in the research, which is equivalent to around £22.1m ($29.8m) for 2025-26
