Gambling Recovery, Accountability, and Systems for Prevention (GRASP)

A phase 1 gambling research innovation partnership
Online gambling on a phone with a digital roulette game

Gambling Recovery, Accountability, and Systems for Prevention (GRASP)

A phase 1 gambling research innovation partnership
Title: Gambling Recovery, Accountability, and Systems for Prevention (GRASP): a phase 1 gambling research innovation partnership
Funding amount: £150,000
Location: UK
Dates: July 2026 – July 2027
Project partners: BetKnowMoreUK, Ygam, Ara Addiction Recovery 4 All, Primary Care Gambling Service, Gordon Moody, Gambling Lived Experience Network, National Centre for Social Research, Plymouth City Council, Devon ICB
University of Plymouth PI/Co-I: Dr James Close (PI), Dr Ryan Statton (Co-I)
 

Overview

The GRASP project is developing a co-produced map of how gambling harm emerges, develops, and impacts lives – mapping current support pathways, identifying gaps, and shaping the next generation of interventions to prevent harm and support recovery where they are most needed. 
Drawing on rapid evidence synthesis and lived experience, the project traces how harms unfold across individuals, families, communities, and services, and highlights where existing responses fall short. It identifies actionable points for intervention – from reducing exposure and stigma to strengthening early identification and support pathways. 
The result is a practical, evidence-based system map – a user-friendly map of what works, where, and why – designed to guide policy, commissioning, and service design toward more effective, joined-up responses to gambling harm.

Objectives 

  • System map: We are producing a visual, co-produced system map, which translates insights from policy, literature and lived experience into an actionable framework. This will outline how drivers and consequences of harm can be tackled across real-world points of prevention, intervention, and recovery.
  • Stakeholder register: Mapping organisational capabilities across the continuum of harm and recovery, including partner organisations, amongst others.
  • Measurement toolkit: We are developing a flexible, mixed-methods toolkit offering evaluation templates, decision trees, and validated measurement tools for public health, clinical and research uses.
  • Co-production reflection guide: Summarising best practice for participatory methods in gambling research, with emphasis on the most marginalised voices.

As gambling harms are increasingly understood from the perspective of public health, it is important that harm reduction is similarly understood. Part of this process is understanding the broader system as it relates to early identification, prevention, and recovery.

Our project is phase one of a longer journey to engage with the broad array of key stakeholders in this space, bringing them together to better understand the system and identify the levers of change.

James CloseDr James Close
Associate Professor in Medicine and Psychology

Context of the issue

As a result of a recent UK Government White Paper, there have been large changes in the gambling ecosystem. The Government now collects a statutory levy from gambling companies, directing some of that money to treatment, some to prevention, and some to research. This has resulted in change but also opportunity to offer more help to those impacted by gambling harms.

How the project addresses the issue

This project is funded from the new levy, and aims to capture the landscape as it exists, providing a resource to all of the stakeholders in the space, highlighting examples of good practice, and identifying gaps where interventions could reduce the burden of gambling harm.

Centre for the Psychology of Health and Wellbeing

The Centre for the Psychology of Health and Wellbeing (CPHW) at the University of Plymouth brings together researchers in clinical, cognitive, social, and environmental psychology to understand and improve health in real-world contexts.
The CPHW's interdisciplinary research addresses health and wellbeing across the lifespan, and integrates theoretical models and methods from neuroscience, cognition and applied social and health psychology.
Blue rose petal with dew for the CPHW