Study title

The research aimed to gather data a newly emerging group, problem internet gamblers, illustrating how and why people move from offline to online gambling. A total of 67 face-to-face interviews were conducted with 26 self-identified gamblers (only 24 of these being interviewed twice as two withdrew) and 17 'significant others' of these participants, e.g. parents, siblings, children and one carer. The interviews aimed to gain information on their internet gambling history and habits, and its impact on their lifestyles and home-life.

The aims of this project are: to explore whether Internet gambling generates new forms of participation for people who would not consider traditional gambling to investigate the impact of Internet gambling on the family In doing so, we will collect new information about what is described as 'self-correcting' problem gambling. This refers to where individuals find pathways out of gambling without recourse to formal public or voluntary sector support. The study involves: a scoping survey about who participates in internet gambling, when and how they participate, and what types of internet gambling they prefer. It will be followed by life history interviews with internet gamblers and their significant others to explore individuals’ pathways in and out of gambling and the role of; ‘families’ in defining problem gambling and developing informal strategies to support the gambler out of this behaviour. By considering types of harm experienced within the family we will investigate the extent to which the home is becoming a new space of risk. The findings will be disseminated to key stakeholders (e.g. GamCare, Relate). In particular, we aim to show how family-based strategies identified in the fieldwork might be 'scaled up' for use within the therapeutic community.