New body aims to raise awareness of gambling as public health challenge

The Royal Society for Public Health and GambleAware have joined forces to establish a Gambling Health Alliance.

The new body will seek to ensure that gambling and the potential harms which arise from it are placed on an equal footing with other major public health challenges, focusing on prevention, early intervention and increased community engagement.

The Gambling Health Alliance, which will initially be established for three years, has the primary objective of bringing together organisations and individuals – specifically policy makers – who have a shared interest in reducing the damage caused to health and wellbeing from gambling.

Among its objectives will be to highlight the rising concerns about gambling-related harms, engage and influence policy makers, Government and the public health community in order to encourage positive action, and to promote evidence so it can be translated into practical steps.

Shirley Cramer CBE, chief executive of RSPH, which is an independent health education charity dedicated to protecting and promoting the public’s health and wellbeing, said: “While it is encouraging that gambling is rightly identified as a public health issue, more needs to be done to better understand the harms that arise from gambling, who is affected and what support can be provided to prevent harms from developing or escalating in the first place.

“We have long campaigned of the impact of gambling and issues such as debt on individual health and wellbeing, including the impact of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in our Health On The High Street Campaign, and the impact of high cost credit, in Life On Debt Row.

“However, we also know that levels of gambling and gaming are increasing; for example, young people face an unprecedented level of exposure to gambling, with over 400,000 11-16 year olds spending their own money gambling each week.

“We are delighted to announce the establishment of this alliance, which we hope will have the same impact that other alliances concerned with issues impacting on the public’s health, such as obesity and alcohol, are having on raising consciousness and agreeing common goals for the public health and policy-making community to rally behind.”

Mark Etches, chief executive of GambleAware, said: “Gambling is increasingly being considered as a significant public health issue, and this new Alliance provides an opportunity for a wide range of organisations to act together to address it in a coordinated and more effective manner.

“As research reveals more about the breadth and complexity of the harms associated with gambling, GambleAware sees clear value in forging new partnerships with those who share our objectives to reduce those harms through a multi-level public health response."

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