GambleAware has announced the outcome of its recent grant award process to improve knowledge of the lived experiences of minority communities – including minority ethnic, religious and linguistic groups – in relation to gambling and gambling harms.
Following a competitive process, the grant was awarded to two consortiums: one led by Ipsos MORI (which will lead the research overall) and supported by researchers at the University of Manchester; while the other is led by ClearView Research.
The 18-month programme will utilise the two consortium’s understanding of the research aims, the communities themselves, and the underlying factors that can drive gambling harms amongst marginalised and socially excluded communities.
The gambling harms charity has also increased the grant award to £300,000, up from the £250,000 originally specified, in recognition of the research’s importance and the ambition of the collaborative consortium.
Dr Jay St John Levy, Research Lead at GambleAware, commented: “The experiences of minority communities around gambling are at present under-researched in Great Britain, yet evidence suggests that these groups are more likely to experience harm from gambling, and less likely to access gambling treatment services, compared with white communities.
“We are very pleased to award this grant to these two consortia who together bring considerable expertise focussing on people’s nuanced lived realities. This will help explore why these communities experience a greater burden of harm, and how to break down the barriers preventing them from accessing services.”
The research will: explore minority communities’ lived experience of gambling, gambling harms, and gambling advice and information, support, and treatment services; the drivers of gambling harms among minority communities in Great Britain, building on international research; and identify the services, interventions, and policies necessary to reduce and prevent gambling harms among these communities.
Levy continued: “This research will better ensure that GambleAware and others can commission a broad range of treatment and support services that work for minority ethnic, language, and religious communities. It is therefore an important step towards reducing the current inequalities in gambling harms.”
The final research report will be published in 2023, with interim reports to be made available in the meantime to help GambleAware’s “wider five-year strategy that aims to achieve a society free from gambling harms for all communities.”
