King's College London

The 10^th Gambleaware Gambling Harms Conference 2022 took place at the King’s Fund on 7 December in London. The conference theme, Taking a Public Health Approach to tackle gambling harms, was chosen by conference organisers as particularly relevant in the current cost of living crisis climate, and with the intense gambling advertising surrounding the World Cup.

Some 150 attended in person, with more online: the audience was made up of policy makers, researchers, people with lived experience, and those from charities, and third-sector.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty (pictured above), started off the event highlighting that gambling harms are a public health issue which disproportionately affect people living in areas of deprivation. He noted the weak evidence base around gambling harms and need for more research to guide policy making, and the importance of protecting children from gambling harms.

Other speakers included newly appointed Minister for Gambling, Paul Scully, and Shadow Minister, Alex Davies-Jones who discussed the long awaited Gambling White Paper.

Unit researchers Caroline Norrie and Cat Forward presented a poster outlining emerging findings from their study, Developing a Question for Identifying Gambling Harms to Individuals and Affected Others and Piloting it in Three Local Authorities.