The UK has inaugurated its largest independent centre dedicated to researching gambling-related harms.
The centre, announced by the DCMS on Thursday, aims to fill long-standing gaps in evidence that have impeded effective policymaking, treatment, and prevention strategies.
The Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre will be supported by national funding agency UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through a portion of the government-administered statutory levy.
It will be led by a consortium of researchers comprising the Universities of Glasgow, Sheffield and Swansea and King’s College, London.
The UKRI’s 20% allocation of the Gambling Levy will finance the centre. This amounts to £22.1 million for the fiscal year 2025-2026. The levy separately also invested £25.4 million in gambling-harm prevention organisations earlier this year.
With government backing, GHR-UK intends to conduct a programme to investigate gambling harms, expand research capacity, collaborate with stakeholders and harness public data assets to generate new insights.
It will also coordinate 19 ongoing Innovation Partnerships funded under the GHR-UK framework. Research themes will span gambling and sport, online and video-game gambling and structural drivers of gambling-related harm.
As part of a wider UKRI Research Programme on Gambling, the centre complements 32 rapid evidence reviews. It also complements 19 Innovation Partnerships, and four UKRI policy fellows already commissioned, the UKRI said. The body anticipates further investment in areas such as the convergence between gambling and video gaming.
Purpose and rationale
The launch responds to concerns over a notable shortage of high-quality, independent evidence related to gambling harms.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) said harmful gambling conservatively costs the UK economy approximately £1.4 billion annually. The impact extends beyond economics to public health and criminal justice. It encompasses serious individual consequences such as depression and suicide according to UKRI.
“For too long, gambling research has been under-resourced and overlooked,” Professor Heather Wardle, director of the centre and professor of gambling research and policy at the University of Glasgow, said.
“New funding through the levy and UKRI marks a vital reset, strengthening the quality and scale of gambling harms research and ensuring policy is driven by rigorous, independent evidence.”
She also emphasised that the centre would prioritise input from people with lived experience of gambling harm. This will help ensure research remains connected to real-world issues and outcomes.
Emphasis on lived experience
Reflecting this approach, Martin Jones has been appointed as the centre’s lived-experience lead. Jones, a campaigner and charity worker who has experienced gambling-related suicide within his family, stated that “research isn’t an intellectual exercise sitting in isolation.
“It is and should be closely linked to real gambling harms affecting real people,” he added.
“We need to do much more to prevent these harms, and coordinating top quality research will support this, especially by exploring the more complex areas around suicide, algorithms and financial data.”
Integral to the centre’s mission is maintaining independence from commercial gambling interests. The UKRI’s statement emphasised that a strong governance and integrity framework will ensure autonomy.
Researchers raised the issue of gambling harms research being funded and influenced by the sector in April 2025 during a parliamentary health and social care committee meeting.
At the time the panel of gambling harms researchers said it was wary of how the statutory levy’s funding could be distributed. They said that in the past gambling researchers had been reluctant to take funding provided by the sector due to ethical concerns.
Speaking on the panel, Wardle said previous gambling harms research she had worked on prioritised questions and perspectives that, she believes, the gambling sector had influenced.
The public health debate
The establishment of the GHR-UK Evidence Centre arrives amid ongoing regulatory and public health debates over gambling harms. MPs recently framed gambling advertisement as a public health issue. This was alongside a recent study that revealed that university students in the UK who gamble are now losing an average of over £50 per week.
The government further detailed plans to establish an illegal gambling task force this week. The task force will focus on preventing payments to illegal operators, tackle illegal online advertising and enhance cross-agency enforcement.
Kathryn Evans
Kathryn covers bitesize breaking news with a primary focus on EMEA and US legislation. A proud North Walian, fluent Welsh speaker and lifelong Wrexham FC fan – long before Hollywood came calling.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/sustainable-gambling/uk-launches-largest-independent-gambling-harms-research-centre/
