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Qualitative research on the consequences of gambling

Qualitative research on the consequences of gambling: follow-up interviews with participants from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain

Published
8 May 2025

Last updated
8 May 2025 - Changes

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Contents

Executive summary

Research aims and methods

This qualitative research aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the varied experiences of adverse consequences from gambling, through follow-up interviews with participants who took part in the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB). The research sought to better understand:

  1. What journeys lead people to experience adverse and/or severe gambling consequences.

  2. What external factors influence and/or contribute to adverse and/or severe gambling consequences.

  3. How are different adverse and/or severe gambling consequences connected in people’s lived experience.

  4. What measures and practices have prevented adverse and/or severe consequences from occurring.

This report presents findings from 25 in-depth qualitative interviews with participants who took part in the GSGB and had indicated experiencing severe and/or potentially adverse consequences from their own gambling in the past 12 months. Interviews were conducted over the telephone or MS Teams, transcribed and analysed to identify themes.

Context: Overview of the impacts of gambling on participants in this research

Participants discussed both positive and negative impacts of their own gambling. Participants described positive consequences either at the beginning of their journey with gambling, or throughout their whole journey with gambling, with positive and negative impacts occurring in parallel. These positive impacts included winning money, opportunities to socialise and spend time with friends and family through gambling and experiencing excitement or pride when winning. As outlined in Chapter 3, participants mainly focused on the negative consequences of gambling, but it should be noted that all participants had been selected due to their reported experience of negative consequences.

Participants frequently described negative financial consequences related to their own gambling. These financial impacts varied from reducing spending on non-essentials (for example, new clothes) and everyday items (for example, groceries) to job loss or becoming unhoused. The impact of financial consequences was felt to be minimal for some participants, but for others these lead to feelings of frustration and guilt and inability to pay off loans and bills. Additionally, participants described negative consequences that involved their relationships (spending less time with family members, strain to relationships, and direct conflict) and health (stress, anxiety, depression, and poor sleep and nutrition).

Findings

Participants’ journeys with adverse or severe consequences from gambling

Participants’ journeys with adverse consequences from gambling varied, along with their wider life experiences. For some, their first contact with gambling was during childhood or adolescence, often starting with observing parents or other family members who gambled (and in some cases witnessing them experience adverse consequences), but also directly participating in gambling activities themselves. Financial impacts were often the first negative consequence that participants described experiencing. In other cases, participants reported relationship issues as their initial adverse experience from gambling.

The journeys described by participants were not linear and varied in pattern, with some participants experiencing progressive worsening of gambling consequences, in several cases followed by improvements, whilst others experienced very little change with consequences over time. Changes in participants’ journeys were often described as being caused or compounded by external factors, which could lead to varied outcomes. For example, employment and increased income could prompt an increase in gambling activity because of the availability of disposable income, but it could also prompt participants to reduce gambling because their main motivation to gamble was to increase their earnings. Similarly, unemployment and low income were for some a factor in their decision to gamble more (to earn money and supplement their income) or less (because of a reduced disposable income).

Other factors that participants described as having an impact on their gambling included having friends who also gamble, having children, experiencing stress, anxiety or depression, financial challenges, migrating or moving to new areas, and the advertising and marketing of gambling products.

Interrelation of different adverse or severe consequences from gambling

Participants described a variety of ways that different consequences, such as financial, relationship and health and wellbeing consequences are interrelated. For some, one consequence led to another, while for others, the consequences fed into each other in an ongoing cycle. In some cases, participants faced multiple problems at once with no clear sequence. Losing money was often a starting point for experiencing further adverse consequences such as stress, depression and strained relationships.

Preventing or reducing consequences from gambling

Participants’ awareness of gambling support tools and services varied from no awareness to awareness of multiple tools and services. Participants’ awareness of these tools was either gained passively through being informed by others or actively seeking out information or support themselves.

Participants who had accessed support described using a variety of forms such as self-help tools offered by gambling operators, personal techniques (such as budgeting) and support from friends and family. These approaches were generally adopted after experiencing negative financial, relationship and mental health consequences from their gambling.

Conclusion and recommendations

This research sought to explore experiences with adverse consequences in greater depth and identified the following:

  • journeys with gambling consequences are complex and influenced by a range of external factors including factors related to individuals, wide social and political factors, and factors related to the gambling industry
  • first experiences with gambling are often (but not always) positive, with adverse consequences often developing over time and some participants experiencing them more quickly than others. The research identified variation in participant’s first experiences with adverse consequences. Often financial consequences were experienced first which led to subsequent impacts on mental health or relationships
  • there are complex interactions between different adverse consequences as well as external factors. Participants described a range of ways that harms interrelated, including one consequence leading to another, consequences taking place simultaneously, and circular or reinforcing relationships between gambling consequences.

This research has added to the evidence base for several of the Gambling Commission’s Evidence gaps and priorities for 2023 to 2026. Chapter 7 outlines in more detail recommendations for reducing gambling consequences and areas of further exploration.

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