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 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

8 - Follow-up support

The NIHR review highlighted high levels of recurrence in the treatment literature. Our observations suggest that the protocols for follow up support to prevent recurrence remain unclear, and there is potential for improvement. The current face to face treatment system appears to rely heavily on counselling (98%) compared with only 2% who receive CBT intervention.

The evidence reviewed by NIHR suggests that self-guided therapies alone may have limited impact, particularly over the longer term. A key priority for the coming year will be to invest resources in identifying recurrence risk factors, identifying causes of addictive behaviours and co-occurring conditions such as depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges as well as debt and other financial consequences.

One recent study found that young people who experience problem gambling are at heightened risk of suicide ideation regardless of other pre-existing conditions¹⁴⁵. In parallel with work by Links Workers and financial advice support attached to GP practices in Scotland¹⁴⁶, the PCGS in England¹⁴⁷ is piloting the value of social prescribing for individuals who use their service.

These pilots, along with new developments such as GamLEARN and player led-digital innovations¹⁴⁸, will inform this under-researched area and offer support at an earlier stage.

References

¹⁴⁵ Suicidality and gambling among young adults in Great Britain: results from a cross sectional survey (opens in new tab), Wardle et al, 2021

¹⁴⁶ Welfare and advice partnerships (opens in new tab), Scottish Government, March 2021

¹⁴⁷ Primary Care Gambling Service (opens in new tab)

¹⁴⁸ Don’t bet your life on it (opens in new tab)

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Lack of independent quality assurance

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Last updated: 28 June 2021

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