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Responsibilities in gambling harm prevention and reduction

Evidence from recently regulated licensed markets

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cgs226

Keywords:

gambling, Harm prevention, harm reduction, licensing, responsibility

Abstract

Gambling harm prevention and reduction consists of a range of upstream and downstream solutions. Responsibilities for implementing and ensuring these tasks falls across a range of actors, including policymakers, regulators, health professionals and industry. Increased harms caused by online gambling necessitate new regulatory measures, and potentially new responsibilities for their implementation. The current study uses key informant interview data (N=10) conducted in four jurisdictions that have recently introduced a license-based online gambling market (Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ontario). Our aim was to identify what kind of responsibilities for harm prevention and reduction emerge in competitive online markets, to whom responsibility for these tasks is assigned, and what kind of barriers to harm prevention exist across responsibilities. Our analysis shows that most universal responsibilities are assigned to policy makers and regulators. Selective measures aiming at those who gamble, are largely implemented in collaboration between regulators and industry. Indicated and treatment-focused measures are the shared responsibility of treatment professionals, regulators and industry. The main barriers to effective harm prevention related to conflicting interests, industry power, lacking harm prevention resources, lacking centralisation and offshore provision. We argue that improved harm prevention would require balancing existing asymmetries that relate to power, responsibilities and prioritisations.

Author Biographies

Virve Marionneau, University of Helsinki

Virve Marionneau, PhD, is the Director of the Centre for Research on Addiction, Control, and Governance (CEACG) at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Virve’s research focuses on gambling industries and regulations. Virve is also a board member on the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG) of the Great Britain Gambling Commission, and a member of the Gambling Harms Expert Group of the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. She was a commissioner on the Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling.

Mette Kivistö, University of Helsinki,University of Helsinki

Mette Kivistö is a project planner at the Centre for Research on Addiction, Control, and Governance (CEACG) at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Mette has a master’s degree in social sciences, with a focus in social and public policy.

Nina Karlsson, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Nina Karlsson is head of gambling harm prevention development at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. Nina has a master’s degree in social sciences. Previously she has worked with substance use prevention development, and with alcohol and drug research with a focus on facilitating Nordic research collaboration.

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Published

2025-10-28

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How to Cite

Marionneau, V., Kivistö, M., & Karlsson, N. (2025). Responsibilities in gambling harm prevention and reduction: Evidence from recently regulated licensed markets. Critical Gambling Studies, 6(1), 50–67. https://doi.org/10.29173/cgs226

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2025): Open Issue

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Original Research Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Virve Marionneau, Mette Kivistö, Nina Karlsson

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