Journal of Gambling Issues publishes women’s sport findings from EPIC’s senior research manager

Landmark research into the effects of gambling on women’s elite sport from EPIC’s senior research manager, Anca-Maria Gherghel, has been published by the Journal of Gambling Issues.

Studies conducted with women’s professional players in football, cricket and rugby union within the UK have been shared in recent months at a variety of research conferences, including May’s 19th International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking in Las Vegas.

JGI has now become the first academic publication to carry the outcomes of her investigation, which was a joint venture, backed by EPIC Global Solutions as part of Gherghel’s PhD studies at Sheffield Hallam University’s Sport and Physical Activity Research Centre.

Among key findings in the report, the 15 participants – including ten who have represented their country – provided the following key insights:

• Female cricketers and rugby union players expressed greater desire than footballers for gambling industry funding to help grow their sport.
• Sports betting is accepted as a normalised activity in elite female sports clubs in England in three established popular, mainstream sports
• The motives for gambling stated by female athletes strengthened the argument that sports-culture related factors such as peer-pressure from clubmates can influence female athletes to gamble and, therefore, there is need for gambling harm prevention measures put in place by clubs to protect female athletes.
• Similar studies should be conducted with coaches and managers involved in women’s sports to obtain a more holistic overview of the existing gambling cultures within clubs; additionally, studies involving female athletes from other sports and different countries would allow for a better understanding of the extent of the normalisation of gambling across sports and nations.

Reacting to the interest in the study, Anca-Maria Gherghel explained:

“There has been significant interest in this research, as it taps into knowledge that wasn’t previously available. Continuing to publish the findings in academic journals and discussing them with researchers at major events is crucial to ensure that this data becomes widely known and can act as a catalyst for future studies.

“The insight in this study is extremely valuable, as the relationship between women’s elite sport and gambling hasn’t been the subject of any previous academic research of this nature. This needs to be the first of many studies that help to understand the needs of women’s sport in ensuring that it can co-exist with gambling safely and sustainably.”

The findings will also be presented to attendees at EASG 2026, the 15th European Conference on Gambling Studies and Policy Issues from 8th-11th September in Copenhagen.

There, Gherghel will present insight from two studies, as she also joins Mark Lucia, director of programming, Kindbridge Research Institute, as the two organisations introduce a new study into the findings of gambling prevalence among first responders in the United States, which is set for publication in the weeks prior to the event.

Click here to read the full findings via the Journal of Gambling Issues.