GamCare has teamed up with City University and research agencies LAB and Ignition House to research online gambling vulnerabilities.
GamCare, the UK’s leading provider for problem gambling support, has teamed up with City University and research agencies LAB and Ignition House, to better understand online gambling behaviours and vulnerabilities.
Announcing the project, GamCare said that deeper research is required in order to identify potential indicators of vulnerability and harms of people that are gambling online.
The research project
The project will be split into two phases – the first will be a small qualitative study with up to 20 participants who gambled online in the last six months. GamCare’s research unit has started seeking out participants for the first phase of the study and applicants are required to register interest in the study before Christmas.
The first study will involve a one-hour, one to one interview via phone or video calls with an experienced gambling researcher. The interview phase will involve asking participants questions to help the GamCare team understand online gambling behaviours.
The first phase of the project will form the foundations of the second phase of the study which will be a much larger quantitative study which will be carried out in 2021.
In a statement, GamCare said: “This research aims to make online gambling significantly safer, with the vision of developing knowledge and interventions that protect gamblers by moving them away from harm and towards protection in digital gambling environments.”
More research needed
Both GambleAware and the NHS have emphasised the need for deeper research and insights on gambling behaviours and triggers in order to help treatment services address gambling problems, mental health harms and risks.
Earlier this week, GambleAware, the UK’s responsible gambling charity, commissioned the second annual GB Treatment and Support Demand Survey to analyse the barriers and demand for treatment for gambling harms.
The charity’s survey will be conducted by YouGov and will run alongside three other surveys, each using posing identical questions on gambling behaviours and harms as well as barriers and facilitators to accessing support and treatment services.
The survey will use a sample of 18,000 respondents, up from the 12,000 used last year, to allow for better comparisons when it comes to the differences between geographical areas at a smaller scale and to include a larger number of ethnic minority communities.
