THE ETHICS OF GAMBLING RESEARCH

Gambling is a recreational activity for many, though it can also lead to significant harm for some individuals and families as well as for the wider community more broadly. Gambling is an important source of tax revenue and business profits in Australia where governments have long been accused of being ‘addicted to gambling’ with only marginally successful attempts to reduce gambling harm in the community. In this chapter, I attempt to answer four common questions of relevance to the ethical conduct of gambling research: (a) Is information about gambling ‘sensitive’? (b) Are individuals who gamble a ‘vulnerable’ group? (c) How ‘independent’ is gambling research? and (d) What can be done to improve the ethical conduct of gambling research? My central argument is that gambling is a public health issue that causes harm, and ethical considerations should follow suit. Applying a genuine public health lens to gambling and gambling harm provides a data-driven, evidence-based approach to undertake research in an area that is politically and socially complex, and highly contested.