Laura Balla, Head of Research at the UK Gambling Commission, has stated that the Gambling Survey for Great Britain will assist in “filling evidence gaps around the impacts of gambling” and provide a better evidence base to help “make gambling safer for all”.
Balla’s comments follow the UKGC’s first GSGB dataset publication earlier this year, in addition to the release of the commission’s Corporate Strategy 2024 to 2027, which was published last week.
The UKGC’s Head of Research emphasized that the new questions on the GSGB were introduced to help the commission meet one of its key objectives of protecting children and vulnerable people from gambling-related harm through effective and enforced regulatory requirements.
Previously, screening instruments such as the Problem Gambling Severity Index were used as a way to determine the evidence base on the impacts of gambling, but Balla explained that “discourse in recent years has expanded to recognise the wider harms that can be caused ..