UK establishes largest independent gambling harms research centre

(AsiaGameHub) –   The UK has launched its largest independent centre focused on researching gambling-related harms.

Announced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on Thursday, the centre seeks to address persistent evidence gaps that have hindered effective policy development, treatment options, and prevention efforts.

The Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre will be backed by the national funding body UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), using a portion of the government-managed statutory levy.

It will be led by a consortium comprising the Universities of Glasgow, Sheffield, and Swansea, along with King’s College London.

UKRI’s 20% share of the Gambling Levy will fund the centre, amounting to £22.1 million for the 2025–2026 financial year. Earlier this year, the levy also allocated £25.4 million to organisations working on preventing gambling-related harm.

With government support, GHR-UK plans to carry out a research programme examining gambling harms, grow research capacity, engage with stakeholders, and utilise public data to produce new findings.

The centre will also oversee 19 ongoing Innovation Partnerships funded under the GHR-UK framework. Research areas will include gambling in sport, online and video-game-related gambling, and structural factors contributing to gambling-related harm.

As part of a broader UKRI Research Programme on Gambling, the centre aligns with 32 rapid evidence reviews, complements the 19 Innovation Partnerships, and supports four UKRI policy fellows already in place, according to UKRI. The organisation expects further investment in areas such as the growing overlap between gambling and video gaming.

Purpose and rationale

The launch addresses longstanding concerns about a significant lack of high-quality, independent research on gambling harms.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) estimates that harmful gambling costs the UK economy around £1.4 billion each year. The consequences extend beyond financial impacts to public health and the criminal justice system, including severe personal outcomes such as depression and suicide, UKRI stated.

“For too long, gambling research has been underfunded and neglected,” said Professor Heather Wardle, director of the centre and professor of gambling research and policy at the University of Glasgow.

“The new funding through the levy and UKRI represents a crucial turning point, enhancing both the quality and scale of gambling harms research and ensuring that policy is grounded in rigorous, independent evidence.”

She also highlighted that the centre would place strong emphasis on input from individuals with firsthand experience of gambling harm, ensuring that research remains closely tied to real-world challenges and outcomes.

Emphasis on lived experience

In line with this commitment, Martin Jones has been appointed as the centre’s lived-experience lead. A campaigner and charity worker who has personally experienced gambling-related suicide in his family, Jones remarked, “Research isn’t an abstract intellectual exercise conducted in isolation.

“It must—and should—remain closely connected to the real harms gambling inflicts on real people,” he continued.

“We must do far more to prevent these harms, and coordinating high-quality research will help achieve that, particularly by investigating complex issues such as suicide, algorithms, and financial data.”

Central to the centre’s mission is maintaining independence from commercial gambling interests. UKRI stressed that a robust governance and integrity framework will safeguard its autonomy.

Researchers raised concerns in April 2025 during a parliamentary health and social care committee meeting about the potential for gambling industry influence over research funded by the sector.

At the time, the panel of gambling harms researchers expressed caution over how the statutory levy’s funds might be distributed, noting that in the past, many researchers had avoided accepting industry-funded grants due to ethical reservations.

Speaking on the panel, Wardle said that prior gambling harms research she had been involved in often prioritised questions and viewpoints she believes were shaped by the gambling industry.

The public health debate

The creation of the GHR-UK Evidence Centre comes amid ongoing regulatory and public health discussions surrounding gambling harms. MPs have recently described gambling advertising as a public health concern, following a study showing that university students in the UK who gamble are now losing an average of more than £50 per week.

This week, the government also outlined plans to establish an illegal gambling task force aimed at blocking payments to unlicensed operators, curbing illegal online advertising, and strengthening cross-agency enforcement.