GambleAware study finds increased gambling harm among "marginalised" communities
Charity CEO Zoë Osmond says research shows problem gambling services must be diverse as study from NatCen reveals increased harm for the socially excluded
A recently published study by the National Centre for Social Research and GambleAware has found people from marginalised communities gamble as a way of coping with loneliness and fear of losing their job.
The study looked at six communities; criminalised and/or moralised communities; migrants in vulnerable circumstances; people living with disabilities or mental health challenges; people who are unemployed or in insecure employment; people at risk or are currently homeless; and older people.
Despite there being limited evidence from 138 previous studies about the gambling-related harm rates among the six communities, such as not enough relevant papers or data from the UK being over a decade old, it was still determined that people from the groups gambled due to similar reasons.
These included feeling lonely, fear of losing their job, discrimination, adapting to a new culture and poverty.
For migrants in vulnerable communities, evidence showed that those in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Spain experienced high levels of gambling harm compared to “non-migrant communities, despite having lower rates of gambling participation”.
When looking at gambling harms among people with disabilities, a 2015 study of 769 participants in Canada found that there were higher rates of “disordered gambling” among people receiving disability benefits when compared to the general population.
It was also noted that people living in deprived areas in the UK had a higher concentration of gambling venues and that people from marginalised or criminalised areas were more likely to see gambling venues around them.
One finding from the report was that gambling treatment services should be accessible, inclusive and adaptive to different people from different communities.
It also suggested further research into gambling harms among the aforementioned communities in order to better understand their needs.
Zoë Osmond, GambleAware CEO, said the findings of the study further clarified the need to help those struggling from gambling harm and why the charity was already investing in organisations that help marginalised communities.
The Improving Outcomes Fund handed £4m into 25 organisations across the UK earlier this year, such as Investing in People and Culture who fund gambling harms among ethnically diverse refugee and migrant communities in Tyne and Wear.
Osmond said: “Our new report shows how people from marginalised communities, who are already dealing with many different issues in their lives, struggle with gambling harms.
“There needs to be more engagement with these communities to build awareness around the risks of gambling harm, and service providers need to ensure they can appropriately meet the needs of people in different circumstances.
“This is why we launched our Improving Outcomes Fund, to support organisations which are running programmes to help people from different communities.”
Dr Sokratis Dinos, one of the authors of the study who works for the National Centre for Gambling Research, added: “The report is a collection of findings and analysis of six scoping reviews, which were conducted to critically appraise existing evidence on gambling harms among communities in Great Britain who are subject to disproportionate marginalisation, social exclusion, or subject to criminalisation.
“The results show how vulnerability to gambling harms for some people in these communities will be driven by compounding inequalities, stigma, exclusion, and discrimination.”