Building Knowledge of Women’s Lived Experience of Gambling and Gambling Harms across Great Britain

GambleAware has awarded a £250,000 grant to build knowledge about the drivers of gambling participation and of gambling harms experienced by women, and to understand the differences among sub-groups of women. The knowledge accrued from this research will be used to inform GambleAware’s commissioning practices. This will ensure that services and interventions that are commissioned are accessible and tailored to the needs of women to prevent and reduce gambling harms.

This research will take place alongside work funded by GambleAware in Building Knowledge of Minority Communities’ Lived Experience of Gambling and Gambling Harms across Great Britain.

Purpose and Aims

The current evidence base does not take a gendered approach to women and gambling, nor is there a clear understanding of why certain women are more likely to experience gambling harms compared to others. There is also a lack of knowledge as to why some women are more likely to access treatment and support for gambling harms. We would like this research programme to:

• Explore the reality and lived experiences of women and their engagement with and experience of gambling, gambling harms, and gambling treatment and support services.
• Establish and explore the drivers of gambling harms amongst women in Great Britain.
• Explore the services, interventions, and policies needed to reduce and prevent gambling harms for women.

The Research

The research GambleAware has funded will be undertaken by a consortia, led by IFF in collaboration with University of Bristol and GamCare. The research will:

• Take a mixed-methods, multidisciplinary and multi-sector approach to achieve the aims of the research programme. Research will include depth interviews, ethnographic methodological approaches, all underpinned by reviews of secondary research and academic literature.
• Be undertaken by consortia and multidisciplinary teams that include agencies and academics working collaboratively.

Communities of people with lived experience of gambling harms are central to this research, and these communities will also be represented in codesign teams, informing the direction and undertaking of the research.

Project Team

Kelsey Beninger (Director, IFF); Rowan Foster (Director, IFF); Catherine O’Driscoll (Associate Director, IFF); Alfie Sanders-Earley (Research Manager, IFF); Sanyogita Singh (Senior Research Executive, IFF); Savanna Hirth (Research Executive, IFF); 

Maria Fannin (Professor of Human Geography, University of Bristol); Sharon Collard (Research Director and Professor of Personal Finance, University of Bristol); Sara Davies (Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol); 

Dominique Webb (Head of Programmes, GamCare); and Marina Smith (Programme Manager, Women’s Programme, GamCare)

For more information about this research, please find the original call for proposal here.