Gambling Harms Research UK Evidence Centre Opens After Levy Funding

The Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre has officially opened, which is a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) investment funded by the government’s statutory levy, and will direct research on how to tackle and prevent gambling harms.

The evidence centre will work with government, health bodies, charities, and people with lived experience of gambling. The centre will manage a research programme on gambling harms, build capacity in gambling harms research, collaborate with stakeholders, explore how UKRI and other data assets can support generating new evidence, and coordinate the cohort of partnerships.

The coordination of partnerships will cover a broad range of topics, including gambling harms and sport, gambling online and in videogames, and the structural drivers of gambling harm.

Role of the statutory levy

The statutory levy came into effect last April, as one of the terms from the 2023 Gambling White Paper, requiring all licensed operators to pay a percentage of their gross gambling yield to contribute towards efforts to treat and prevent gambling harm. The rate ranges from 0.1% to 1.1%, depending on the specific gambling-related activity.

This marked a shift from the previous system of a voluntary levy, where operators would make an annual financial contribution to regulator the Gambling Commission, which would be distributed to one or more organisations which delivered or supported research. Last December, the government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the levy had raised close to £120 million so far.

How the funding is split

UKRI has received 20% of the funding generated by the levy, amounting to £22.1 million in 2025/26. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities manages prevention funding and receives about 30% of the funding generated by the levy. The remaining 50% of the funds will go towards treatment and support services.

Professor Christopher Smith, Arts and Humanities Council Executive Chair, said: “Gambling harms can have devastating consequences for individuals, families and communities. This new independent evidence centre is a major step in building the high-quality research base needed to inform better policy, prevention and treatment across the UK.

“Through the gambling levy, UKRI is helping to establish a long-term, credible and independent research capability on gambling harms.”

This will be the first UK research centre on gambling harms where the industry itself does not have any direct involvement, aside from the investment the operators make towards the statutory levy.

“A vital reset”

The evidence centre will be led by Heather Wardle, Professor of Gambling Research and Policy at the University of Glasgow, with partners at King’s College London, University of Sheffield and Swansea University. Wardle said: “We’re proud to lead UKRI’s first ever Gambling Harms Research Evidence Centre.

“For too long, gambling research has been under-resourced and overlooked. New funding through the levy and UKRI marks a vital reset, strengthening the quality and scale of gambling harms research and ensuring policy is driven by rigorous, independent evidence. Putting lived experience at the heart of our work, we look forward to collaborating widely to deepen understanding of and reduce the serious harms associated with gambling.”

According to UKRI, the gambling harms burden to the UK economy is conservatively estimated to be about £1.4 billion per year. UKRI said further investments will be made in the future, including research on the convergence between gambling and video gaming.

In March, the DCMS announced it will make grant funding available to organisations during a transitional period for organisations moving to funding from the statutory levy from the previous voluntary funding system.