Report

ABSG Progress Report on the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms – Year Two

ABSG - Year two Progress Report on the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms

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Published
7 July 2021

Last updated
28 June 2021 - Changes

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Contents

• ABSG Progress Report on the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms – Year Two

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• Executive summary
• Recommendations
• Introduction
• • Introduction
  • Background
  • Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on partnership working
  • Trends in gambling
  • Gambling Act Review
  • Online harms
• Delivery and governance
• • Delivery and governance
  • Progress involving people with lived experience of gambling harms.
  • Mixed picture of national strategic co-ordination of implementation
  • Metrics for measuring harm
  • Evaluation of policy
  • Funding
  • Research
• Prevention and education
• • Prevention and education
  • Improved regulatory protections
  • Suicide and gambling
  • Improved profile of gambling harms as a public health issue
  • Increased engagement from the financial services sector
  • Gambling is not yet fully integrated with local public health activity
  • Increased education and awareness raising activity
• Treatment and support
• • Treatment and support
  • Expansion of treatment and support services in new areas
  • The evidence base for treatment is developing but incomplete
  • Need for more integrated treatment services
  • Clarification of referral pathways required
  • Triage and completed treatments
  • Lack of independent quality assurance
  • Follow-up support
• Conclusions
• Annex 1: Priority Metrics for measurement of National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms

4 - Improved profile of gambling harms as a public health issue

There has been progress on improving the profile of gambling harms as a public health issue.

Notable milestones this year include the announcement of the Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling⁸⁹ and a Public Health Special Issue on Gambling⁹⁰.

The Lancet Commission has an ambitious agenda to guide action to reduce population level gambling harms, to protect people from harms and to provide evidence-based care where needed⁹¹. The need for population level interventions and integrated services is well documented for other forms of addiction and is no less relevant in this context⁹². To have any prospect of preventing harm, particularly in children and other vulnerable groups, it is essential to take a population-wide, public health approach.

References

⁸⁹ The Lancet Public Health Commission on gambling (opens in new tab) – this is made up of international academics and is supported by a lived experience advisory group.

⁹⁰ Gambling: An emerging public health challenge (opens in new tab), Public Health Research Network, July 2020

⁹¹ Interventions to reduce the public health burden of gambling-related harms: a mapping review (opens in new tab), Blank et al, The Lancet Public Health, Volume 6:1, January 2021

⁹² New dimensions for hospital services and early detection of disease: A Review from the Lancet Commission into liver disease in the UK (opens in new tab), Williams et al, The Lancet, March 2021

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Increased engagement from the financial services sector

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Last updated: 28 June 2021

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