Lived experiences of gambling, gambling-related harms, and crime within ethnic minority communities

Project Team

Dr Geraldine Brown (Coventry University), Dr Nicola Harding (Lancaster University), Dr Julie Trebilcock (Brunel University London), Dr Liz Riley (Betknowmore UK), Tony Sales (We Fight Fraud), and peer researchers Anil, Joseph (pseudonyms), and Wendy Knight. The team were supported by Frankie Graham, Steven Nyandu, and Anna Niemczewska (Betknowmore UK).

Collaborators

Howard League for Penal Reform

Duration

January 2022 - January 2023

Project objectives

The overarching aim of the research was to amplify the voices of people from ethnic minority communities who have been affected by gambling and crime. It explores the diverse ways in which gambling and crime (or activities that could be classified as ‘crime’) impact on their lives. The research considers the lived experiences of people from ethnic minority communities who have gambled themselves, as well as those who have been affected by the gambling of others.

This research is one of six studies commissioned by the Commission on Crime and Gambling Related Harms, which was launched by the Howard League for Penal Reform in 2019. The Howard League | Research Commissions.

The Chair of the Commission is Lord Peter Goldsmith QC. He leads a team of 12 Commissioners, comprising of academics and professionals with expertise in the criminal justice system and public health, as well as experts with knowledge of the gambling industry and with lived experience of addiction. The Commission seeks to answer three questions:

• What are the links between crime and gambling harms?
• What impact do these links have on communities and society?
• What should be done?

Objectives

As part of the work of the Commission on Crime and Gambling Related Harms, the aim of this research is to explore the lived experiences of crime and gambling-related harms for people within ethnic minority communities.

The research aimed to answer the following questions:

• What are the different trajectories and lived experiences of individuals from ethnic minority communities involved with gambling and crime?
• How do people from ethnic minority communities understand and experience the gambling in their lives? What is ‘problematic’ about the gambling in their lives? What gambling-related harms do they experience?
• How does gambling affect people from ethnic minority communities’ key relationships such as employment, education, social, and familial networks?
• How have crime and gambling intersected in people from ethnic minority communities’ lives? What contact and experience have these people had with the criminal justice system?
• To what extent have people from ethnic minority communities sought out, been offered, or utilised treatments for gambling? What have their experiences of seeking out and/or accessing support been?

This is a qualitative study and makes an important contribution to a growing area of research. This is the first study in the UK to explore ethnic minority communities’ experiences of crime and gambling harms.

Further detail about the Commission for Crime and Gambling Related Harms can be found here: The Howard League | Commission on Crime and Gambling Related Harms