Opinion: Should gambling companies help fund gambling research in Sydney?

The University of Sydney's new gambling research centre raises an uncomfortable question: who should pay for research into harm?

The university announced a Centre of Excellence in Gambling Research in August 2023, describing it as a multidisciplinary centre focused on gambling behaviour and harm minimisation. On paper, that sounds worthwhile. Australia has a serious gambling problem, and better research is clearly needed.

The controversy sits in the funding. The centre's work attracted scrutiny because of support connected to gambling industry players, including Sportsbet and Entain Australia, alongside funding from the International Center for Responsible Gaming.

This is where the issue becomes difficult. Research into gambling harm needs money. Universities need funding. Real-world data and industry cooperation can sometimes help researchers understand behaviour more clearly.

But gambling is not a neutral industry. It profits when people bet, and in some cases, when people bet more than they can afford. That does not automatically make every industry-funded project invalid, but it does create a perception problem that should not be brushed aside.

When an industry helps fund research into harms linked to that same industry, the public is entitled to ask hard questions. Will the research be fully independent? Will uncomfortable findings be published? Will the funding sources influence what is studied, how it is framed, or how results are used?

For research on gambling to carry weight, it needs to be beyond suspicion — not just technically independent, but visibly independent. Sydney should want strong gambling research. It should also want clear boundaries.