Gambling Related Financial Harm
Our Gambling Related Financial Harm project is a cross-sector collaboration initiative to tackle financial difficulties caused by gambling.
About our Gambling Related Financial Harm Project
Gambling related financial harm can manifest in many ways and doesn’t only harm the person who gambles but their loved ones too.
In 2023/24, 67% of callers to the National Gambling Helpline disclosed some level of gambling related debt, whilst 76% of the callers reported financial difficulties. These harms extend beyond those who gamble, with 39% of those affected by someone else’s gambling also reporting financial difficulties.
In 2019, we started the Gambling Related Financial Harm (GRFH) project to increase awareness of the issue, build stakeholders’ confidence and ability to respond to these harms, and facilitate referrals into gambling support and treatment.
We achieve these aims through the coordination of a network consisting of members and representatives from a range of sectors and organisations including:
- Financial services firms (including banks, lenders, fintechs)
- Debt advice and money guidance organisations
- Gambling operators
- Gambling support and treatment providers
Bank Gambling Blocks
We have a guide on bank gambling blocks, which are tools offered by most UK banks and work by blocking debit card transactions to gambling operators.
Insight Workshops
These are cross-sector collaboration events, attended by both professionals and those with lived experience to address key and emerging topics relating to gambling and finances.
You can download summaries of key insights and recommendations from the past workshops:
- GRFH in Affected Others
- High-risk Investing and Gambling
- GRFH in Children and Young People
- Gambling Block Loopholes
- Preventing Gambling Related Debt
- Supporting Clients with Gambling Related Debt
- Bank Gambling Blocks
- Business Banking and Debt & Gambling Harm
- Transaction Monitoring For Harmful Gambling And Proactive Interventions
- Gambling Block Loopholes
We see these recommendations as ‘everyone’s business’ and we would like to see a cross-sector response to drive these changes forward.
If you are interested to learn more about these topics or if your organisation is already taking action to address any of these issues, please get in touch to let us know.
Networking Building
Through events and roundtables, the GRFH project creates opportunities for cross-sector networking and for organisations to share updates and learnings about their work to tackle gambling related financial harms.
If you would like to be added to our mailing list and be kept up to date with details of forthcoming GRFH workshops and networking events, please sign up here.
Best Practice Sharing
Best practice and learnings are shared through attendance at stakeholder events and conferences to ensure that gambling harm is on the top of the agenda for organisations. This also includes the dissemination of the GRFH Toolkit (see below), which was launched in 2020 to support a consistent approach to addressing gambling related financial harms.
Direct Support for Partner Organisations
We work directly with partner organisations to share best practices around gambling tools and interventions, customer communications and referral pathways. The project faciliates engagement between organisations and individuals with lived experience of gambling harms, providing a source of information and expertise they would otherwise not have access to. This allows organisations to ask questions, test ideas and gain insight to inform changes in their policies and practices.
Managing your Money
Visit our money management page for information about dealing with financial worries and debt.
GRFH Evaluation Report
In 2023, GamCare commissioned Rocket Science, an independent research and evaluation company to assess the impact the project has had to date. Rocket Science found that the project:
- Creates a unique networking space for an open discussion about gambling related financial harms.
- Facilitates shared learning and knowledge by raising awareness about those financial harms.
- Supports organisations, by helping them to embed the experience of those affected by gambling harms, within their policies.
- Enables real world change, including the development of referral pathways between organisations that support clients experiencing gambling harms.
We couldn’t have achieved this impact without the commitment and engagement from our partner organisations who played a big role reducing gambling harms, by attending our events, implementing our recommendations, and making a positive impact for their vulnerable customers who have been affected by gambling.
We’re delighted that 100% of stakeholders surveyed said they wanted to see the GRFH project continue.
Download the report to find out more about the impact of the GRFH project.
GRFH Toolkit
Our Gambling Related Financial Harm Toolkit, which launched in September 2020, was developed out of a need for all sectors to address gambling harms consistently – a gap we identified in the first year of the project.
The GRFH Toolkit is designed to offer improved outcomes for customers – giving businesses the tools to offer quality customer communications about gambling risks and the support available so the issues can be addressed as early as possible. It was developed in collaboration with all key sectors and people with lived experience.
