About this project
In England and Wales, gambling and competing for financial profit when incarcerated is prohibited under restrictions imposed by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and yet, previous research has found that gambling between prisoners is evident in a small section of prisons where research has been conducted.
Gambling activity has included leisure pursuit to pass the time, through to harmful gambling. Those involved in harmful gambling activity when incarcerated may experience debts that lead to becoming a victim of associated violence. Gambling is a public health concern due to the harms that people can encounter, particularly when someone becomes addicted to gambling and things spiral out of control. Our initial research for the Howard League for Penal Reform (see report https://howardleague.org/publications/sentencers-understanding-and-treatment-of-problem-gamblers/) identified that criminal justice professionals needed more training to identify gambling related harms for the purpose of sentencing and that treatment provision for people who are experiencing gambling harms was not being fully utilised in sentencing. We also found that there was limited evidence on what constitutes effective treatment in the criminal justice system for people experiencing gambling harms.
In order to gain more insights into the prevalence of gambling harms in prison populations and with people on probation in the community, GamCare and HMPPS collectively funded a team of researchers from the Centre of Crime, Justice and Security at the University of Staffordshire to conduct further research from 2022 to 2024. This research aimed to inform HMPPS policy and practices by identifying 1) indicative prevalence of gambling harms within prison and probation populations and the range of harms being experienced, and 2) the associated support being currently offered and to identify gambling harms support and treatment preferences. Our research has focused on the experiences of those engaged in the Criminal Justice System, affected others, criminal justice professionals from probation and prisons and professionals from voluntary sector gambling harm reduction treatment services working to support the Criminal Justice System. As a result of the findings, we have co-created a series of recommendations to the relevant HMPPS led strategic partnership boards in England and Wales with the aim of reducing and responding to gambling-related harms.
In May 2025, our research report was launched at an online event with HMPPS staff, gambling harm reduction support providers, public health leaders, police leaders and academics. Our report outlines indication of prevalence of gambling harms within prison populations and for people under probation supervision in England and Wales. The report provides examples from criminal justice staff and voluntary sector gambling harm reduction treatment providers of what happens when gambling is identified as a contextual factor to crime or to crime victimisation. The mixed methods research used in this research project provides a greater understanding of how gambling related crime is presently approached upon a person entering the Criminal Justice System to serve a sentence, whether that be a custodial or community sentence, and to make suggestions for future improvements.