UK safer gambling chair calls for urgent evidence-based research

The chair of the Gambling Commission’s Advisory Board for Safer Gambling has highlighted a lack of evidence for safer gambling measures.

UK.- Anna van der Gaag (CBE), chair of the British Gambling Commission’s Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG), has said more research is urgently needed in the area.

She said that problem gambling research was being hindered by a lack of evidence due to polarised frames of reference.

She said it was necessary to find a way through conflicting views to create evidence-based research, citing the Canadian doctor Dave Sackett‘s work on Evidence-Based Medicines (EBM), who posited an evidence-led approach on three elements: research, clinical judgement and the voice of users, rather than research evidence alone.

She said: “Positivist versus interpretive, objective versus subjective, empirical versus narrative, expert versus lay person, each one claiming superiority over the other in an increasingly politicised world of measurement.”

A professor of ethics and regulation at the University of Surrey, Van der Gaag has led the British regulator’s advisory on safer gambling research, education and treatment (RET) since 2018.

The ABSG will inform the Gambling Commission’s National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.

In her update to the Gambling Commission, she highlighted the importance of lived experience feedback.

She said: “We must not wait for one type of research evidence to be fully complete before moving forward on planning provision of services.

“We must evaluate carefully as provision evolves, and adapt accordingly, listening to those who already provide treatment and support.”

Last month, the Gambling Commission’s quarterly participation and problem gambling survey found that problem gambling levels fell to 0.3 per cent in September. It’s the joint lowest figure on record since the survey began in 2016.

See also: Gambling Commission hails success of credit card ban