Statistics and research release
Lived experiences of affected others: Qualitative research
Qualitative research to explore the lived experiences of adults affected by someone else’s gambling.
Summary
Also published recently
This report contains findings from new qualitative research which was conducted with 25 adults aged 18 and over in Great Britain who had been affected by someone else’s gambling in the past 12 months. This research was carried out by Humankind Research as part of our Consumer Voice programme, to contextualise and build on findings from our analysis on affected others using data from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB).
The research contributes to Evidence theme 3 - Gambling-related harm and vulnerability (and its associated roadmap on the impact of gambling on people who gamble and affected others) within our Evidence gaps and priorities programme of work.
This research was funded by the statutory gambling levy (opens in new tab). Within the report, some findings and recommendations extend beyond the Commission’s regulatory remit and will therefore be relevant to the wider gambling ecosystem. A companion report to be published in the coming months will explore implications for the wider gambling ecosystem in more depth.
Details
Key Findings
Affected others can experience harm in their health, relationships and finances, and these impacts can compound and reinforce each other.
Affected others often don’t realise harm until later and by the time they do, it may already be affecting several parts of their life.
When gambling is hidden on phones and apps, it becomes harder to recognise when someone is experiencing problems with gambling, which can leave those around them feeling hypervigilant.
Relationship type fundamentally shapes the experience of harm – partners often carry the most sustained harms, but parents, adult children, siblings, friends, and colleagues each describe distinct and specific forms of harm.
When gambling starts as a shared activity, any harm that follows can be mixed with feelings of guilt and make it harder to understand who is affected and how - something that isn’t well captured in current data.
Safer gambling tools were encountered almost exclusively at crisis point by the affected other, and all required the person gambling to initiate and maintain them.
Fewer than 1 in 5 affected others seek support (GSGB, 2024); many do not recognise their own experience as harm, and those without a personal relationship to gambling have few natural entry points into services.
Chronic harm (the persistent consequences of lives adjusted around someone else’s gambling) is among the least visible in existing evidence and can continue for years without formal recognition.
Full publication
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Full details can be found in the Lived Experiences of Affected Others: Qualitative Research report.
Supporting publications of interest
Insights into affected others from the GSGB - Adverse consequences experienced as an affected other
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