Research project
From stress to gambling harm in later life
- Start date: 14 April 2026
- End date: 13 April 2027
- Funder: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
- Principal investigator: Dr. Joshua Weller
- Co-investigators: Dr Simon van Baal (Leeds University Business School), Dr Mei Yee Tang (School of Psychology, University of Leeds), Dr Rebecca Dalby (School of Medicine, University of Leeds), Jo Volpe (Leeds Older People's Forum) and Damian Dawtry (Leeds Older People's Forum)
Description
Gambling harm affects around 2 million people across the UK, causing serious financial, psychological, and social damage to individuals, families, and communities. Yet older adults, who face a distinct set of life pressures including retirement, social isolation, declining health, and financial insecurity, remain largely overlooked in both research and prevention efforts.
Beyond the challenges these pressures may create, evidence suggests they can also impair the kinds of judgements and decisions that protect people from gambling harm.
Understanding how stress operates as a pathway into harm, particularly in later life, is an important and underexplored question. This project brings together researchers at the University of Leeds, Leeds Older People's Forum, and Leeds City Council to explore exactly that.
Rather than treating gambling harm as a matter of individual choice or weakness, we take a community-centred view, which recognises how broader social and structural pressures shape vulnerability. Crucially, older adults in the Leeds area with direct experience of gambling harm will be at the heart of the project, helping to shape the research questions, methods, and outputs.
Research overview
Over the next twelve months, the project will establish a panel of ten to twelve adults (55 years and older) from the Leeds area who have personal experience of gambling harm. Working together through a series of workshops, panel members will help identify the stressors that matter most in their communities, review emerging research findings, and shape the questions and methods that will guide future work. Panel members will act as genuine co-researchers, with real influence over the direction of the project.
Alongside this, the team will carry out a review of existing evidence on stress and gambling harm in older adults, drawing together what is already known and identifying the gaps that need to be addressed.
By the end of Phase 1, the project will have built a stronger foundation for tackling gambling harm in later life, including a clearer picture of how stress contributes to vulnerability, a network of community and statutory partners working together around this issue, and a co-designed plan for a larger follow-on programme of research.
The findings will be shared with local organisations, policymakers, and frontline services across Leeds and the wider Yorkshire region, with the aim of improving how gambling harm is identified, prevented, and responded to in communities facing the greatest pressures.
Contact
This project is funded by UKRI.