Community of Practice

Led by our partners, Blackpool Public Health & Empowerment, The CoP is creating a continuous knowledge flow, identifying research & evaluation gaps, & empowering the work of other project strands. The CoP organises hybrid sessions (online/in-person), which are helping to identify and develop resources and open knowledge to different groups

Participatory Innovation Framework: Workshop and micro-experiments

Our workshops, championed by Lancashire and South Cumbria Foundation Trust, have been surfacing shared priorities, mapped referral routes and prototyped simple tools (e.g. screening checklists, joint-training modules) to test how collaboration can directly improve awareness of gambling harms and service provision. These sessions are also designed to help bring the power of research to help partner organisations.

Gambling Data Finder

The Gambling Data Finder is a living resource and research tool for the UKRI-funded Youth Gambling Harm Research and Innovation Partnership (Y-GHRIP). It helps researchers, policy teams, practitioners and data owners find, assess and understand datasets that measure gambling participation or gambling-related harm

Gambling Data Finder

Words Matter

A language guide for respectful reporting on gambling

Why is this important?

Existing ways of talking about gambling are stigmatising, blaming and shaming of the individual. This stops people asking for help, even when they need it most. Gambling harms are highly associated with suicidality. If we do not change our language, we risk lives.

Eight principles for respectful reporting:

1. Emphasise the person first (such as the person harmed by gambling rather than the addict or gambler). Avoid labelling people based on their experiences with gambling harm.
2. When reporting or describing an individuals’ story, ask that person how they wish to be addressed or described and respect their choices.
3. Be aware of the context of the language you are using - some language is OK when used within a community to claim identity but is stigmatising when used by others, such as addict.
4. Focus on why something happened, including the role of the industry and the risk inherent with their products, rather than focusing only on the actions of individuals.
5. Avoid language or reporting that sensationalises, stigmatises or victimises people who gamble and who are harmed by gambling.
6. Don’t minimise the risks associated with gambling products. Acknowledge the scale and scope of risk associated with different types gambling products.
7. Recognise that gambling products risk harm to health and are addictive; products are designed to be addictive; gambling disorder is an illness; harms from gambling are wide-ranging and go beyond more than money lost.
8. Use empowering language. People who have experienced harms from gambling can and do recover, through talk about recovery, networks, communities of help and support, not helplessness and vulnerability

(Biggar B, Wardle H (2024). Words Matter: A language guide for respectful reporting on gambling. University of Glasgow: Glasgow. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36399/gla.pubs.330660. Copyright is held by Dr Blair Biggar and Professor Heather Wardle.)

Gambling Harms Research UK Evidence Centre

Gambling Harms Research UK is a new network funded by UKRI as part of its Research Programme on Gambling. Launched in April 2026, the network aims to address the lack of high‑quality independent evidence on gambling-related harms in order to support effective policy, prevention, and treatment.

Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre