Exploring Gambling Harm: RGT Seeks Research Proposals

The Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) has put out a public tender seeking research projects in support of a year-long research programme exploring and defining gambling-related harm in the UK.

The title of the programme is 'Gambling-related harm - what the term involves and how to best measure it and account for it in Great Britain?'. The aim of the programme is to set out what gambling-related harm actually means, the form the harm takes, and who experiences it.

The research will then look to understand how these issues can be monitored and measured within the UK to ensure that any attempts at minimising gambling-related harm can be accurately evaluated.

Marc Etches, the chief executive of RGT, said that there has been recent thinking within this field that has turned the attention from just problem gambling to a wider question of actual gambling-related harm. This is in line with the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, which has an interest in this concept. RGT is very keen to enable this ground-breaking research.

Mr Etches continued that they expected this work to help inform discussions around how gambling-related harm could be a public health issue.

He said that RGT will be awarding total funding for the relevant research projects with £80,000 being available for funding. The programme is scheduled to begin in January 2016 and to be completed by December of the same year.

The invitation for tenders has been issued publicly in order to ensure that all capable parties will have a chance to participate in the research programme. The tenders will be thoroughly reviewed by the RGT's Research Committee, chaired by a senior independent trustee, Professor Jonathan Wolff.

All the research is to be commissioned by Independent Trustees who will be sitting on the Responsible Gambling Trust's Research Committee. This is to ensure that it will be free from any potential for industry influence, said Mr Wolff. He continued that the Research Committee was keen to receive proposals from anyone who has the relevant expertise and that they had issued this public tender to make sure that they reach the widest possible audience.