Gambling

Gambling research

The Sheffield Addictions Research Group is actively engaged in emerging areas of gambling research, seeking to understand and address the complex issues surrounding addiction and public health.

We are co-leaders of the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Addictions, collaborating with King's College London and the University of Glasgow. Our research provides evidence-based insights to guide policymakers in addressing issues related to alcohol, tobacco/nicotine, gambling, and illicit drugs. Our gambling research focuses on two under-explored areas:

• The impact of gambling on close contacts: We explore how gambling can negatively affect the lives of family and friends of people who gamble, highlighting the broader societal implications of gambling harm.
• The impact of gambling on lower-risk individuals: We aim to challenge the misconception that only severe problem gamblers experience harm, by building evidence of the impact of gambling on those who may not meet the 'high-risk' thresholds.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities commissioned us, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Glasgow, to produce estimates of the number of adults who gamble in England who might benefit from treatment or support.

Our work has been cited in several government reports including the Gambling White Paper and the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity, the UK's biggest enquiry into the interaction between health and the economy.

Evaluating gambling policies

We are currently conducting a six-month rapid review, funded by UKRI, to gather evidence on the effectiveness of population-level policies designed to reduce gambling-related harm. This work is intended to inform health economic modelling of gambling policy by identifying which interventions – such as taxes, spending limits and advertising restrictions – have the strongest evidence for effectiveness.

By examining quantitative evidence from real-world policies implemented globally, the review also explores how the availability of data affects the ability to carry out high-quality evaluations of gambling behaviour and related harms.

Investigating the impact of gambling advertising

We have also investigated the impact of gambling advertising on television through two doctoral research projects:

• Ellen McGrane's PhD research explored the impact of gambling advertising during live sports on gambling behaviour in men, as well as the effect of voluntary advertising bans on the overall presence of gambling advertising on television.
• Esther Moore is currently developing the first public health economic model of gambling which aims to estimate the potential impact of a ban on television gambling advertisements.