What is the impact of gambling on a person’s family and friends?

What’s the context for this evidence review?

Gambling is increasingly recognised as a public health issue that affects not only individuals who gamble, but also those around them, including partners, parents, children, relatives and friends. These “affected others” can experience emotional distress, relationship breakdown, financial strain and mental health challenges. Despite growing awareness, there is still limited and fragmented evidence about the scale of these harms, how they are defined and measured, and what forms of support are most effective.

Following the introduction of the new statutory levy on gambling operators on 6 April 2025, the UK government has committed to strengthening the independent evidence base on gambling harms. As part of this programme, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is commissioning a series of Rapid Evidence Reviews to identify gaps in knowledge and inform future research and policy priorities

What we did

We conducted a Rapid Evidence Review examining the impact of gambling on affected others. The review mapped research published since 2010, identifying 159 studies covering how affected others are defined, the harms they experience, and the effectiveness of interventions and support.

We also consulted people with lived experience and an intervention provider to help refine our understanding of affected others and the harms they experience.

What we found

Who are affected others?

The review developed a three-zone framework to classify affected others according to their relationship with the person gambling, from intimate household relationships to extended family, friends and wider community connections. However, affected others are not a uniform group: their circumstances can change over time, boundaries between affected others and people who gamble can overlap, and financial dependence and caregiving responsibilities can shape their experiences.

What harms do affected others experience?

We found that the evidence focuses predominantly on emotional and psychological harms, relationship difficulties, financial impacts and health-related harms. Other areas, including cultural harms and impacts on work and study, receive much less attention. Evidence also remains uneven across different groups of affected others, with important gaps in understanding how harms affect people with different identities and circumstances.

What is known about interventions and support?

The review identified interventions for affected others individually, couples and families, as well as peer-support and wider support services. However, the evidence base overall remains limited and more robust research is needed to establish which interventions work best, for whom, and in what circumstances.

How it fits in

This review builds on TIHR’s growing body of work on gambling harms and their wider social impact. By focusing on affected others, this project extends our work beyond individual behaviour to consider how gambling affects families, social networks and community wellbeing. Recent projects include the evaluation of the Mobilising Local Systems Programme and the evaluation of a Residential Rehabilitation Service for people affected by gambling-harms and other co-morbidities.