• GambleAware 2019 and 2020 data on reported demand for treatment and support for gambling harms is now available to the wider research community through the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC).
• The CDRC is hosting the data set in its on-line catalogue, making it freely available for secondary data analysis and new knowledge creation by academics and researchers.
• Promoting a policy of open data reflects GambleAware’s strategic ambition to help diversify and grow the range of academic disciplines engaged in research to prevent gambling harms.

London, 08 October 2021: GambleAware has made data from its Annual Great Britain (GB) Treatment & Support Survey, on the reported demand for treatment and support for gambling harms, accessible via the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC).

The CDRC is the UK’s leading source of consumer data and part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC’s) Big Data Programme.  Working with a range of data owners, the CDRC manages access to specific data sets through a secure on-line application process.  The CDRC’s focus on providing insight into a diverse range of societal and economic challenges fits well with the type of research commissioned by GambleAware and others to tackle the challenges of preventing gambling harms.

Collected via an annual survey carried out by YouGov, the Annual GB Treatment & Support Survey includes key demographic variables in relation to gambling participation and gambling harms. It also contains information on triggers for high levels of gambling; the reported demand and uptake for treatment and support services; barriers and facilitators for different communities in accessing treatment and support; and intersecting health and social issues. Demographic, support needs and other insights into those who are currently, or have been, affected by another person's gambling is also covered.

Alison Clare, Interim Research Director at GambleAware said: “We are pleased that this rich data set is now freely available to academics and researchers across GB and elsewhere in the world. GambleAware currently uses only a small proportion of this data in our Annual GB Treatment & Support report and GB maps showing gambling harms prevalence and treatment demand at ward level. There is so much more that researchers from a range of disciplines could do with it through secondary analysis and investigation. Longer term, we hope that the catalogue of data sets held by the CDRC in this field will grow, with others’ also making their data openly available to the wider field”.

Oliver O’Brien, Centre Technical Manager at the Consumer Data Research Centre said: “The Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC) is delighted to announce a new partnership with GambleAware. As part of this new collaboration, the CDRC has made available the fully anonymised response data from the GambleAware Treatment and Support Survey. The survey provides a unique look at a detailed examination of gambling participation, harms and support in Great Britain. Alongside access to the data, trusted researchers will also receive associated metadata which they can use towards their research project.”

The data set is accessible through the CDRC website.

The news announcement is available to download in full here.