‘It’s concerning’, but is it your concern? Objectivity, advocacy and activism in gambling research

ABSTRACT

In recent years, there has been an increase in advocacy and social media activism in the field of gambling studies. Much of the focus of this activity has been directed toward concern about the lack of concerted government action to reduce gambling-harm as well as concern about industry influence in government policy and research agendas. It is thought that such activity could be successful in reducing harmful behavior as has been witnessed in relation to smoking in previous decades. In this paper, we highlight some concerns about this advocacy activity as it applies to gambling. We support the view that careful scrutiny should be applied to any research directly funded for industry due to the potential conflict of interest. However, we believe that: (a) greater scrutiny should be given to the role of government and other interest groups in the determination of research agendas and (b) greater transparency be displayed by public health advocates who are strongly opposed to gambling on moral, ethical or theoretical grounds. We discuss the potential pitfalls of conflating research academic and advocacy roles and the threats which this can pose for balanced, inclusive and objective debates in the field of gambling studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy
• gambling
• public health
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

I have received funding for research, support for conference travel and speaking engagements from government and non-government research bodies such as AGRI, VRGF, IAGR and the Department of Consumer Affairs, GambleAware/RGT, Gambling Research Australia, Independent Gambling Authority, the ARC, NHMRC, Channel 7 Children’s Foundation and Australian Institute of Criminology. I have conducted paid consultancy work on responsible gambling for regulatory bodies, government, peak bodies such as the Australasian Gambling Commission and reviews of responsible gambling programs for some industry groups (e.g. reviews of list of indicators, self-exclusion programs, host responsibility quality in relation to international best practice), but not received direct industry funding for any research. I acknowledge that many peak research bodies are indirectly funded by industry through levies or contributions. At an ideological level, I support many of the views of public health advocates in relation to the need to reduce the harm associated with gambling, particularly in vulnerable communities. However, I strongly support the importance of having a regulated gambling industry as a way to reduce (although not eliminate) criminal activity associated with illegal gambling. I believe that large amounts of money spent on gambling would be better directed toward charitable appeals. I have received funding support for conference travel, research and speaking engagements from government and non-government organizations including the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, Gambling Research Australia, NSW Department of Customer Service, WHO, and ARC. I have not undertaken any research funded by industry.

Notes on contributors

Paul Delfabbro

Paul Delfabbro graduated from the University of Adelaide with degrees in Arts, Commerce and Economics and a PhD in psychology. He has published extensively in several areas, including the psychology of gambling, child protection and child welfare and applied cognition. He has over 320 publications in these areas including over 230 national and international refereed journal articles. His recent research interests in addiction have related to: the cross-over between gambling and gaming; the relationship between clinical co-morbidity and problem gambling; gambling-harm; the psychology of gaming machines and the behavioral indicators of problem gambling and harm.

Daniel L. King

Daniel L. King is a senior lecturer in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work at Flinders University. He has over 100 refereed papers in the field of behavioral addictions and has been a regular consultant for the WHO in relation to the measurement and classification of gaming and internet-related disorders.