GambleAware Awards £250,000 Grant
GambleAware has awarded a £250,000 grant to fund new research into women’s lived experience of gambling harms. Following an in-depth grant award process, the independent charity has announced that the funding will go to a specially selected team of experts. A consortium consisting of IFF Research, the University of Bristol and GamCare Women’s Program has won the 18-month grant, and can now conduct its research into how gambling harms impact women.
The grant has been awarded to an all-female team of researchers from a range of disciplines. ©Kampus Production/Pexels
Ambitious Research Program
GambleAware is an independent charity that works to fund research, education and treatment services to tackle gambling harms in the UK. As a grant-making body, it commissions prevention and treatment services from expert organizations like the NHS. Guided by the National Responsible Gambling Strategy, it is also focused on improving understanding of gambling harms.
Now the charity has announced that as a result of its most recent grant award process, £250,000 will fund a research project into women’s lived experience of gambling harms. A consortium made up of some of the UK’s top academic experts has been successful in its bid for the 18-month research grant.
The research team is led by Kelsey Beninger, a Director at IFF Research. The team includes two academics from the University of Bristol; Maria Fannin, Professor of Human Geography and Sharon Collard, Professor of Personal Finance. The team is completed by GamCare’s Marina Smith, Women’s Program, and Dominique Webb, Head of Programs.
Together, the researchers hope to build a better understanding of how gambling and gambling harms affect women, both as gamblers and as affected others. Evidence will be collected through an 18-month project, using a multitude of methods. It will take a multidisciplinary and multi-sector approach, which will include roundtable meetings, in-depth interviews and community committees with women that have lived experienced of gambling harms.
The program has already outlined a number of key objectives that it hopes to achieve. Firstly, it will explore the reality and lived experiences of women, as well as how they engage with and experience gambling, gambling harms, treatment and support services.
The research will establish the main drivers of gambling harms amongst women in the UK. It will also explore how services, interventions and policies can be improved to reduce and prevent gambling harms for women.
Public Health Approach
Research Director at GambleAware, Alison Clare, was delighted to announce that the consortium had won the bid. Speaking about the importance of getting a better understanding of how gambling impacts women, she explained why the research is needed and the difference it will make. According to Clare:
“Women’s experiences of gambling harms are under-researched, often presented as homogenous and in terms of how they differ to men’s experiences. We are pleased to have awarded this grant to this strong multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team which will be drilling down into the experiences and needs of different communities of women.”
She went on to add that the research carried out by the team will help GambleAware to ensure that it is commissioning a range of treatment and support services that women want and will use. While GambleAware will be able to improve how it targets its services, women will also benefit from options that are better tailored to their needs.
Announcing the awarding of the grant, GambleAware also took the opportunity to underline its commitment to delivering a public health approach to gambling harms. It remains focused on understanding how various determinants, such as gender, race, ethnicity, health and inequalities, relate to gambling harms.
GambleAware has commissioned the research as part of its wider five-year Organizational Strategy. This is guided by the charity’s overarching vision of a society free from gambling harms. At present, GambleAware has £56 million of funding under active management. In partnership with treatment providers, it has spent the last few years building structures to improve intervention and treatment strategies.
Through the National Gambling Treatment Service, it is working towards more clearly defined care pathways and referral routes to and from the NHS. The service brings together the National Gambling Helpline, networks of local care providers and people with lived experience of gambling harms. Together, they are working to design a system that meets the needs of individuals, through the use of interventions, counselling, residential programs and psychiatrist-led care.
Pandemic to Blame
The charity launched a campaign at the beginning of the year to promote its National Gambling Treatment Service. The “Start to Regain Control” campaign was targeted at people living in the most at-risk areas, which include London and the East and West Midlands.
Another well-known public health campaign it has run is “Bet Regret”. The campaign encourages consumers to tap out of betting apps and take a moment to think before placing a wager. It aims to help people resist compulsive betting and chasing losses.
GambleAware’s latest grant highlights an increasing awareness of the fact that women can experience gambling and gambling harms differently. The pandemic has been a particularly difficult time for those who struggle with problem gambling, as a growing body of evidence is showing.
According to figures from GamCare shared with The Independent, the number of women in need of support for a gambling addiction rose by 4% during the pandemic. During the year from April 2019 to April 2020, 2,764 women contacted the GamCare helpline. The following year, that number rose to 3,005. On top of that, calls from women accounted for nearly a quarter of all calls about compulsive gambling.
Addressing the need for more specialist services, Gordon Moody will soon be opening the first residential treatment center for women. It is understood that the rise is linked to the lockdowns during the pandemic and the fact that people have had to spend more time at home. As a result, people have spent more time online and, with alternative leisure pursuits off the cards, have had more opportunities to gamble.
Factors such as boredom, isolation, financial worries and emotional stress are also understood to have influenced the rise in gambling harms. While high-street bookmakers struggled during the pandemic, due to closed shops and disrupted sporting schedules, online casinos and gaming sites experienced an increase in sign-ups.
