The UK Veterans Health and Gambling Study
The UK Armed Forces Veterans’ Health and Gambling Study examined gambling participation, gambling-related harm, mental health, and wider social and economic outcomes among UK Armed Forces veterans. Funded by Forces in Mind Trust and led by researchers at Swansea University, the study was one of the first UK-wide projects to investigate gambling harms specifically within the veteran community.
Using an online survey, the study compared 1,037 UK veterans with 1,148 age- and gender-matched non-veterans. It explored gambling behaviour, gambling motivations, mental health, alcohol and nicotine use, military service characteristics, healthcare use, debt, welfare benefits, and wider societal costs.
The findings suggested that veterans who took part in the study were at increased risk of gambling-related harm compared with matched non-veterans. Veterans were more likely to report recent gambling, to gamble across a wider range of activities, and to experience gambling problems. Gambling to cope with stress, distress, or difficult emotions emerged as an important factor associated with higher gambling severity.
The study also highlighted the wider impact of gambling harm. Veterans experiencing problem gambling reported greater use of health and social care services, more contact with the criminal justice system, higher levels of debt, greater benefit receipt, and more lost working hours. A linked economic analysis estimated higher health, social care, and societal costs among veterans experiencing problem gambling.
These findings underline the importance of recognising gambling harm as a relevant public health and welfare issue for the Armed Forces community. The study supports the need for improved awareness, routine screening, clearer referral pathways, and veteran-sensitive support for those affected by gambling-related harm.
Because the study used an online survey, the results should be interpreted cautiously: they show elevated risk among survey respondents, but should not be treated as definitive population prevalence estimates for all UK veterans.
Read the full study report: The United Kingdom Armed Forces Veterans’ Health and Gambling Study
Read the main peer-reviewed paper: Gambling problems among United Kingdom Armed Forces veterans: Associations with gambling motivation and posttraumatic stress disorder
Read the economic costs paper: Social and economic costs of gambling problems and related harm among UK military veterans
