What we say about…Gambling
Commercial determinants of health ·
Gambling ·
Position statements
| 27 March 2026
As a priority, the Government should:
- Adopt a new Gambling Act based on core public health principles.
- Strengthen local government’s ability to address gambling harm.
- Introduce a gambling advertising, promotion, and sponsorship ban.
Did you know:
- In the UK, 37% of people gamble online – the rise of online gambling is a unique and novel challenge, presenting a 24/7 opportunity and global event-driven marketplace
- 29% gamble in person – it is highly accessible with premises often clustered in more deprived areas.
- 1.4 million people are experiencing harm from gambling, with a further 1.6 million ‘at risk’ of experiencing harm.
- Gambling harm is most prevalent among people with poor health and wellbeing, with those at the greatest risk tending to be from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, facing higher unemployment rates and living in the most deprived areas.
Our recommendations include:
- Policy, research, education and regulation must be protected from influence by the gambling industry, with long-term funding for gambling research, harm-reduction initiatives, and treatment integrated into general taxation.
- Gambling should be reframed as a public health issue, with public health experts involved in policy and strategy, including within the Gambling Commission.
- National legislation and resource is needed to allow local authorities to embed gambling harm prevention across public health and other council departments’ functions.
- Robust and adaptive legal requirements are needed for transparency and accountability in the use of data, algorithms, and behaviour tracking.
- A framework should be developed to determine the harm of products, with a ban on the most harmful product designs.