ArticleHarm reduction journal2025
Legal and regulatory responses to online gambling harms: a scoping review of evidence.
Article in Harm reduction journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Deep technologies for responsible gambling: A narrative review of policies and implementation strategies.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Review
- The Stranger at Home: Lived Experiences of Online Gambling Within the Family in Siirt, Türkiye.Journal of gambling studies · 2026Article
- There, but Invisible: Warning Messages in Czech Gambling Advertising during Football Broadcasts.European addiction research · 2026Article
- Professionals' Perspectives On the Role of Advanced Technologies in Responsible Gambling.Journal of gambling studies · 2026Article
- Online gambling as a public health and regulatory challenge: moving beyond individual responsibility.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo synthesise original research on the distinct challenges of regulating the online sector, and the efficacy of public health legal interventions aimed at reducing online gambling harm.
backgroundBoth legal and public health scholars increasingly view gambling as a public health concern. Gambling puts individuals at risk of a range of harms, including related to finances, relationships, mental health, physical health, employment/education, and criminal activity. Harmful gambling can extend beyond the realms of individual harm to affect others including wider society. Online gambling is growing in many countries-e.g. it accounts for 44% of gambling turnover in the UK-and it is seen as especially harmful compared to land-based gambling due to the accessibility, and fast-paced nature of the products available. In addition, there are distinct harms associated with the overlap between gaming and gambling, most prominently through the challenges that exist in the regulation of loot boxes. Legal and public health scholars recommend legal interventions to reduce the harms of gambling, including online gambling.
methodsFollowing a PICOST inclusion/exclusion criteria, we completed a comprehensive scoping review of scientific and legal data sources to ascertain the efficacy of legal interventions on reducing online gambling harms. A narrative synthesis of the included studies was completed.
resultsWe include 27 data sources which either described distinct challenges of regulating online gambling or evaluated the efficacy of laws and regulations. Current gambling harm reduction research is heavily focused on using an individual approach, rather than a systems approach. When a systems approach is taken, it often prioritises tackling unlicensed gambling and blocking mechanics, which require a comprehensive delivery strategy to be effective. Significant gaps exist in examining the effectiveness of interventions on subgroups of the population.
conclusionsInadequate legal and regulatory frameworks have played a crucial role in the proliferation of online gambling harms; studies vary in their explanation for this inadequacy. There is an urgent need for more robust research on law, regulation, and online gambling harms to critically explore the implications of technology, ongoing innovation, and the intervention generated inequalities of regulating online gambling.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.