In the United Kingdom, problem gambling has been identified as a serious public health issue. This report provides findings and lessons learned from the pilot evaluation of the Primary Care Gambling Service (PCGS), a primary care-based service located in Southeast London. The PCGS was designed to provide consistent and holistic support for adults aged 18 and older who are experiencing harm from gambling. It was developed by the Hurley Group, a National Heath Service (NHS) partnership led by general practitioners (GPs). The PCGS is delivered by a multidisciplinary health team in person, online, or by phone for both people who experience gambling harm and their families who are affected. Funding for the PCGS was provided by the Gambling Commission from October 2019 to March 2022. The pilot was interrupted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it resumed in July 2020. Since April 2022, GambleAware has been funding the PCGS. The objectives of the pilot evaluation were to: (1) examine how each referral pathway was working and identify key enablers and barriers influencing their use; (2) explore the perspective of patients about their experiences with the PCGS; (3) identify early patient outcomes; and (4) provide recommendations for improving service delivery.

In the United Kingdom (UK), gambling is heavily advertised and portrayed as a leisure activity. Gambling-related harms are often framed as individual failures to act responsibly. This contributes to stigma, which is a major barrier that prevents people from seeking support when they experience harms. In April 2023, GambleAware launched a campaign called “Let’s Open Up About Gambling” in the UK to directly counter this stigma. The campaign sought to raise awareness of gambling-related harms, encourage help-seeking among people experiencing harms, and improve societal perceptions and understanding. This report summarizes the campaign’s strategies and approach, its key findings and learnings, and recommendations for future campaigns.

This Framework is designed to guide the implementation of the Network to Reduce Gambling Harms (the Network) evaluation and performance monitoring system. The Framework focuses on evaluating the Network and its Community Investment Programme (CIP). The Framework is informed by the Network Theory of Change and grounded in six evidence-informed pillars/conditions for Collective Impact and network impact evaluation. This visual provides an overview of the Framework. The full Framework includes sub-evaluation questions, indicators, and data sources for each question.

This narrative sits alongside our Theory of Change and sets out what guides the Network, what it does, and how these activities are expected to lead to meaningful change over time. It provides a clear overview of the thinking that underpins the Theory of Change.

Between Spring 2024 and Autumn 2025, the Network Operations Team led a Great Britain-wide consultation to identify the top 10 priorities for the Network to Reduce Gambling Harms (NRGH).

Routinely collected data (RCD) are data originally gathered for administrative and clinical purposes, which can later be used as the basis for further research. Datasets of RCD can be linked to create a new data source. For example, RCD that can be linked include general patient population records, hospitalization records, and death registrations. This article presents a scoping review of the use of RCD in research on gambling harm. The researchers examined existing studies on gambling harm using RCD; how datasets are linked; how gambling harm is defined; and the quality of the evidence.

Online gambling is a highly prevalent activity across Europe. While most people who gamble online use legal and regulated websites, a sizeable proportion of people who gamble online use offshore gambling websites. For instance, in 2023, it was estimated that 13% of online gambling in Europe came from offshore gambling. Offshore gambling can be broadly defined as gambling online using a website that is housed in another country and not regulated in the jurisdiction where the person who gambles resides. In Europe, the top offshore market is Malta.

A regulatory measure to prevent and reduce gambling harm that is often used in Europe is mandatory user identification. Mandatory player identification requires people to create an account and verify their identity (e.g., through an official ID, player card, or digital identification) before they can gamble at a venue or online. The creation of an account allows people to set their personal monetary limits for losses or deposits over a specified period.

Many public health initiatives aim to raise awareness of gambling-related harms to encourage less risky gambling behaviour. These initiatives are informed by the idea that people are more likely to change a risky health behaviour when they see its consequences as serious and themselves as vulnerable to the threat.

Real-world gambling behavioural data can be a very useful tool for identifying people at risk of problem gambling (PG) and associated harms. These types of datasets are normally obtained from online gambling platforms or electronic gambling machines in land-based venues.

Gambling can cause harm related to finances, physical health, mental health, employment, and relationships. Members of the Armed Forces, including currently serving and ex-service personnel, are at higher risk of gambling-related harm because of service-related stressors. Yet, many do not seek help due to reasons like stigma, shame, and fear of dismissal. It is important to understand the lived experiences of veterans and their family members who are impacted by gambling-related harm. The purpose of this study was to examine gambling trajectories, motivations, and support-seeking behaviours among UK Armed Forces veterans and family members.

In this study, the researchers tested whether gambling inducements influence sports betting behaviour in young men under 40 years of age. They also tested whether gambling inducements can lead people to make more decision making errors when gambling (i.e., choose bets with low odds).

The Network’s Theory of Change shows how collective action, shared learning, and coordinated support can lead to reduced gambling harms.

To prevent and reduce gambling-related harms in Great Britain, we are bringing together skilled and experienced people and their networks, providing backbone support and collaborative capacity, and delivering funding.

Expanding on the “What We Do” section of the Theory of Change, this list details the activities of the Network.