Critical Public Health · Available online 8 Jun 2026 · In press · DOI 10.1080/09581596.2026.2680725
Jenny Blythe, Martin McKee, Mark Petticrew
Introduction Gambling harms are increasingly recognised in the United Kingdom as a public health issue, but public health teams in local government have no statutory involvement (unlike alcohol). We undertook interviews with public health and licensing teams in Greater London, where one-fifth to one-quarter of all land-based gambling premises in the country are located.Methods We used a reflexive thematic technique to analyse 19 interviews (14 with public health staff and 5 with licensing team members).Results We identified five themes- gambling takes many forms (and all can be harmful); feeling powerless (sub-themes of not enough money and not enough power); not really knowing; what public health teams do; and individuality (‘my borough is different’). There was general alignment between public health and licensing on these themes, apart from their attitudes towards consulting the gambling industry on local gambling policy, where public health teams had reservations compared with their licensing counterparts.Conclusions Those interviewed recognise that gambling can be harmful in any form and that lack of money, power and knowledge all hinder the adoption of public health strategies. Public health teams use their formal and informal relationships across councils to drive public health agendas forward, but, crucially, there is a lack of consensus on involving gambling industry representatives in the decision-making process. Knowledge of how local public health teams have managed to address alcohol harms offers lessons for tackling gambling.
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Blythe, J., McKee, M., Petticrew, M. (2026). Barriers to adopting public health strategies to address gambling harms in London, United Kingdom, local government: a reflexive thematic analysis. Critical Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2026.2680725