Intended for healthcare professionals

  1. Education
  2. Identification,...
  3. Identification, assessment, and management of gambling-related harms: summary of NICE guideline
Practice Guidelines

Identification, assessment, and management of gambling-related harms: summary of NICE guideline

BMJ 2025; 388 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r323 (Published 11 March 2025) Cite this as: BMJ 2025;388:r323

Linked Editorial

Tackling gambling harm requires a public health approach

Linked What Your Patient is Thinking

Offer me hope to overcome gambling harm
  1. Jennifer Francis, senior technical analyst1,
  2. Anja Fricke, technical analyst1,
  3. Ifigeneia Mavranezouli, health economics adviser2,
  4. Alice Navein, technical analyst1,
  5. Liz Ritchie, lay member3,
  6. Matthew Gaskell, consultant psychologist and clinical lead4
  7. on behalf of the guideline committee and the technical team
    1. 1National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Manchester, UK
    2. 2Research Department of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology, University College London
    3. 3Patient author, Sheffield
    4. 4NHS Northern Gambling Service, Leeds & York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds
    1. Correspondence to: M Gaskell matthew.gaskell{at}nhs.net

    What you need to know

    • Consider asking questions such as “Do you gamble?” or “Are you worried about your own or another person’s gambling?” when asking about smoking, alcohol consumption, or use of other substances. It may also be useful to ask people who disclose gambling about the frequency and duration of episodes

    • Refer people experiencing gambling-related harms for support or treatment, or advise them that they can self-refer

    • Current evidence suggests that group cognitive behavioural therapy may be the most clinically and cost effective psychological treatment for reducing gambling severity

    About 15% of adults living in Great Britain are estimated to participate in “problem gambling” or in gambling with an elevated risk of harm, as reported by the 2023 Gambling Survey for Great Britain.1 Adverse impacts of gambling, known as gambling-related harms, include loss of employment, debt, crime, breakdown of relationships, domestic violence, and suicide. They affect people who gamble, their families and others close to them, and society.2

    Liberalisation of UK gambling laws in 2005 (when gambling was changed from a permitted activity to a stimulated market), the increased availability and ease of access to addictive gambling products, and ubiquitous advertising and marketing are contributing to an increase in gambling, particularly in relation to the most addictive products, such as online casino products, in-play micro betting on sports, and land based gambling machines.3 From 2021 to 2022, costs to the NHS, wider public sector, and society were estimated to be between £1.05bn and £1.77bn.4

    This article summarises new recommendations from the recently published National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on identifying, assessing, and managing gambling-related harms in the UK.5 These recommendations are intended to support healthcare professionals and social care practitioners across non-specialist settings, including primary care and emergency department settings.

    Recommendations

    NICE recommendations are based …

    View Full Text

    Log in

    Log in through your institution

    Subscribe

    * For online subscription

    Buy this article

    Back to top