12:00
Cambridge University
October 29
Trinity Hall
Join Trinity Hall Fellow, Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, National Advisor on Gambling Harms, as she uses images and anecdotes to bring science to a subject long overshadowed by other addictions. The arrival of smartphones in 2007 and the proliferation of online betting coincided with a change in the way the country was exposed to gambling, through both sports and advertising, following a loosening of regulatory measures in the same year. Henrietta is Founder and Director of the first NHS clinic to treat gambling disorder, and has witnessed first-hand the harms caused by the ‘casino in your pocket’ of smartphones as people moved away from traditional forms of gambling to online betting. Since her first clinic, another fourteen have been set up across the country as the prevalence of gambling disorder has now reached a staggering 2.5% of the population, according to the Gambling Commission’s recent statistics. Gambling disorder is finally being addressed with evidence-based treatment, with research and most importantly with a public health approach.