GambleAware has published an interactive framework designed to illustrate how wider social inequalities contribute to the unequal distribution of gambling harm across different groups and communities.
The resource aims to support commissioners, policymakers, researchers, campaigners and treatment providers in identifying and addressing the underlying factors that place some individuals at greater risk than others.
The framework is organised into three main areas.
The first examines the broader contexts in which gambling harm occurs, including geography, community conditions, regulatory environments and industry practices such as marketing and product design.
The second area focuses on key drivers of harm, such as limited awareness of gambling risks, social exclusion, discrimination and financial pressures.
The third outlines the barriers many people face when seeking help, including low awareness of available support, a lack of tailored services and concerns about stigma.
According to GambleAware, these factors often overlap and reinforce one another, creating complex pathways to harm that disproportionately affect marginalised groups, people from minority ethnic backgrounds and individuals experiencing economic disadvantage.
The framework draws on a wide body of GambleAware-funded research examining how gambling harm affects specific populations - including women, young people, neurodivergent individuals and LGBTQ+ communities - and how structural issues such as racism, stigma and targeted marketing can intensify vulnerabilities.
Recommendations outlined within the framework include initiatives to reduce stigma around help-seeking, develop more inclusive communication approaches and increase co-production with people who have lived experience of gambling harm.
Commenting on the new framework, GambleAware CEO Anna Hargrave stated: "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."
The framework's release follows recent GambleAware research highlighting notable disparities in gambling harm. A study published in October, for example, found an 11% problem gambling rate among young adults aged 18-24 in the most deprived areas, compared with 4% in the least deprived neighbourhoods.
Earlier this month, separate analysis released by GambleAware suggested that over five million adults across Britain want to reduce or stop gambling, with three-quarters of this group not reporting problem gambling symptoms
