This year’s Current Advances in Gambling Research conference (CAGR) was a truly international affair with more than 80 speakers representing research from over a dozen countries. From Malawi to the Netherlands and Australia to Finland, CAGR 2025 highlighted the variety and wealth of research being conducted to prevent, reduce and address gambling-related harms. At the same time, the conference offered diverse disciplinary perspectives and provided everyone – from PhD students to well-established professors and experts by experience – an opportunity to present their research findings to their peers.
It would be impossible (and unfair) to summarise the entire conference in just a few hundred words. Instead, let’s focus on just a few key themes and issues that arose from the dozens of talks and presentations given over both days. From the first plenary session, it was clear that concern about the harms caused by gambling is almost universal. The Global Gambling Perspectives panel gave an insight into just some of the issues – from concerns around adolescent gambling in Georgia (Guga Besilia) to the marketing tactics of gambling companies in Malawi (Junious Mabo Sichali). Clearly, not all countries are equally represented when it comes to the body of academic research on gambling harms. To hear a range of perspectives from around the world, therefore, in the first plenary session of the conference gave an insight into what could be expected from the rest of the event. Interspersed throughout the conference were talks and presentations from around the world – New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, and Nigeria to name but a few. While some of the challenges faced by countries may be unique, many of the issues raised were of cross-country or even global concern.
As well as geographical diversity, the conference also provided a diversity of disciplinary approaches. Gambling studies sits at an intersection of disciplines from psychology and economics to public health and criminology. Hearing how gambling harms are approached through different academic disciplines was eye-opening – from Michele Stacey’s study of gambling treatment diversion courts in the US (criminal justice and criminology) to Francisco Nobre’s work on the relationship between the proximity of gambling shops and gambling harms (economics). In many ways, while CAGR is a gambling studies conference it is also by its very nature a series of conferences celebrating the array of disciplines that make up gambling studies.
A third theme that was evident throughout the conference was the inclusion of people at different stages of their careers. This was as true of academic researchers as it was of experts by experience and affected others. It was refreshing to see panels where established professors would present their research findings alongside those of PhD students and early career researchers. It was equally inspiring to hear from affected others presenting for the first time, as well as experts by experience with many years’ experience working and collaborating on research projects.
More than anything, it is the people who attend, present, network and run CAGR that make it what it is. It is designed by and for people who are interested in and care about gambling research. Attendee feedback is hugely important in refining and improving the conference for the following year. Attendees should have received a link to the feedback form and we’d be grateful to everyone who can spend a few minutes to complete it.
Finally, the work and dedication of the organising committee of CAGR 2025 needs to be acknowledged. Organising and running a great conference that reflects the diversity and interdisciplinary nature of the gambling research field is a huge undertaking that is months in the planning. The organisers are not professional event planners, but rather academics, ECRs and experts by experience who spend months planning, emailing, updating, chasing and organising so that CAGR can continue to offer an independent and equitable platform to present the latest findings from the field of gambling studies.
And in case you missed it, CAGR 2026 will be taking place in the fabulous city of Helsinki. We’ll be sharing more details in the months to come, so keep an eye on your inboxes.
Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling 