GambleAware Gives Research Grant

GambleAware Gives £300,000 Grant to Research Gambling in Minority Groups

Ipsos MORI to lead market research after £300,000 funding

Independent gambling charity GambleAware has awarded £300,000 ($397,000) funding to a partnership led by market research firm Ipsos MORI to understand better the lived experiences of gambling in minority groups in the United Kingdom.

Ipsos MORI, which works in more than 90 markets worldwide, will lead a consortium of researchers from the University of Manchester alongside another managed by ClearView Research.

Project boosted with cash injection

The 18-month study project, which is expected to be published in 2023, aims to elucidate the underlying causes that contribute to gambling hazards in marginalised and socially excluded communities.

As Dr Jay St.John Levy, Research Lead at GambleAware, put it, “the experiences of minority communities with gambling are under-researched in the United Kingdom at the moment, even though evidence suggests that these groups are more likely to suffer harm from gambling… This will aid in determining why certain populations bear a disproportionate share of suffering and how to overcome the hurdles that prevent them from obtaining treatment.”

The project’s financing has been boosted from an initial £250,000 to £350,000. It has three primary aims. The first step is to examine minority communities’ lived experiences with gambling, gambling risks, and advising services. The second objective is to determine what motivates and exacerbates gambling effects among minority populations throughout the United Kingdom. The third objective is to identify the services and policies required to prevent and mitigate these gambling-related harms in communities.

GambleAware’s five-year goal

The donation is part of GambleAware’s broader five-year goal to ensure that no community in society is harmed by gambling. The organisation has received around £56 million in total financing to date.

According to a recent GambleAware-commissioned survey, up to 1.4 million adults, or 3% of the population, are gambling addicts; yet, only 3% of this population receives treatment for their addiction.