UK Launches Gambling Harms Research Centre Free From Industry Ties

Britain’s gambling harms research sector has been given something it has long lacked: a major national centre with no commercial gambling involvement.

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The new Gambling Harms Research UK Evidence Centre will be funded through the government’s Gambling Levy and delivered as a UKRI investment. Its task is to build a stronger independent evidence base on how gambling harms develop, how they can be prevented, and how treatment should respond.

The scale of the problem is already substantial. Harmful gambling is conservatively estimated to cost the UK about £1.4 billion a year, with pressure falling on health services, the criminal justice system, families and individuals. Depression, suicide and financial harm sit behind that figure.

The centre will be led by the University of Glasgow, with partners at Sheffield, Swansea and King’s College London. Heather Wardle, professor of gambling research and policy at Glasgow, will lead the work.

A New Hub for Independent Gambling Harm Research

Its remit is broad. The centre will coordinate research, support 19 Innovation Partnerships, examine how existing data can generate new evidence, and train researchers in a field that senior academics argue has been underfunded for too long.

The Gambling Levy is divided between treatment, prevention and research. UKRI and the Gambling Commission are responsible for investing 20% of levy money into research, worth £22.1 million in 2025-26. That funding has so far supported rapid evidence reviews, policy fellowships, the new centre and the Innovation Partnerships.

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A central feature of the project is lived experience. The centre has appointed Martin Jones as lived experience lead, bringing direct personal knowledge of gambling-related suicide and wider work with charities, education bodies and treatment organisations.

That role is not decorative. The centre says people harmed by gambling, including families and wider affected communities, will help shape the research programme rather than simply be consulted after decisions are made.

The Innovation Partnerships will examine areas including gambling and sport, online gambling, video games, structural causes of harm, suicide, algorithms and financial data. Future UKRI investments are also expected to examine the overlap between gambling and gaming.

The centre’s independence is likely to be one of its most closely watched features. Gambling research in Britain has often been contested because of industry funding or influence. This centre is being presented as the first UK gambling harms research centre free from industry involvement, with governance rules intended to protect its work from commercial pressure.

For policymakers, the bet is that better evidence will lead to better prevention, treatment and regulation. For those harmed by gambling, the test will be whether the research reaches beyond universities and changes what happens in practice.

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Source: gla.ac.uk