Critical Gambling Studies (Journal)
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General and Gambling-Specific Types of Control: Extending Mental Health Theory and Concepts to Problem Gambling
Full text linkRationale: A key factor in our understanding of problem gambling is control: over gambling outcomes (illusion of control) and behaviours (gambling self-efficacy). Research in the gambling field rarely looks beyond these gambling-specific types of control to more general types when identifying predictors of gambling problems. This work begins to integrate control concepts from the mental health and problem gambling fields by examining the importance of a more general type of control from the Stress Process Model: sense of control over life events. Methods: Closed-ended questionnaire and open-ended interview responses from 30 frequent (weekly or more) gamblers were used to examine whether general and gambling-specific types of control are linked as predicted in a conceptual model of control. Results: For some people, beliefs about one type of control are extended to inform beliefs about another type of control. In many cases, understandings of outcomes in life inform beliefs about controlling gambling outcomes and behaviours. Conclusions: Different types of control work together, and general understandings can translate into gambling-specific beliefs. Future work is needed to confirm and specify these relationships and clarify their importance to understanding the development of gambling problems
Editorial: Early Career Research in the Gambling Field: A Reflection on Existing Challenges and Opportunities for Change
Full text linkGambling in Ancient North America: The Bettor-wager Pattern in Continental Perspective
Full text linkGambling in ancient North America was primarily an intergroup activity. This position as a liminal practice, taking place on territorial frontiers and at large intertribal gatherings, puts gaming on the very forefront of cultural transmission and knowledge exchange, with several implications. Intergroup gaming results in a shared fluency of games, transcending barriers of language and ethnicity. Evidence of common methods and materials allows ancient, region-spanning social networks to be identified. And subtle variations demonstrate a repeated and ongoing negotiation between groups over time as objectives and participants change, with this evolution of gaming practices continuing to the present day. The freedom to adapt to changing conditions, contrasted with notions of a static “traditional” past, is not just a matter of sovereignty relating to Indigenous games. It is a reflection of the nature of Indigenous gaming as it has always been
WAI 1909 – The Waitangi Tribunal Gambling Claim: How will it Improve the Health Outcomes for young Māori People?
Full text linkIn 2008, I lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal in regard to problem gambling and its negative impacts on Māori people. The Tribunal is tasked with hearing grievances related to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) signed in 1840 between Māori and the British Crown. It is a historical claim focused on the lack of adequate protection of taiohi Māori (young people of Māori descent) and the intergenerational harm caused by problem gambling among their whānau, hapū, iwi (extended families and relatives) and urban Māori communities. However, this begs the question how can a Treaty claim improve the health outcomes of a generation of taiohi Māori who have been exposed to commercial gambling and its aggressive and targeted expansion and marketing? This paper frames the WAI-1909 claim as a Kaupapa Māori (Māori research approach) derived from the research of three wahine toa (warrior women) supporting the claim; and refers to epistemological standpoints of Māori women working in the gambling research space. I demonstrate how the gambling claim challenges the New Zealand government to honour the promises in the articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to protect the rights of its citizens, especially taiohi Māori. The WAI-1909 gambling claim concludes that whilst the New Zealand Gambling Act (2003) includes a public health approach to problem gambling, it has not adequately addressed the rights of tangata whenua (Māori, the first people of Aotearoa/New Zealand) under Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The \u27New Buffalo\u27 Confronts a Pandemic: Implications of the COVID-19 Shock for the Indigenous Gaming Industry
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic is an economic shock that affects both the supply of and demand for goods and services. These effects are particularly profound in the hospitality and leisure sector, which includes the gaming industry. COVID-19 therefore has the potential to result in lasting damage to localities that depend on gaming revenues. For Indigenous gaming communities, the stakes are especially high. The Indigenous casino and gaming industry has been characterized as the coming of the “new buffalo,” a trope that alludes to the high levels of wealth enjoyed by bison-reliant communities in the Great Plains. Indeed, Indigenous gaming has been a valuable engine of economic growth for many communities across North America, but COVID-19 reveals this economic success to be a double-edged sword. The COVID-19 shock is now threatening to undermine an industry that has come to play a critical role in the physical and financial health of Indigenous gaming communities as well as in their capacity to exercise their right to self-determination
How Luhmann’s systems theory can inform gambling studies
Full text linkGambling and problem gambling studies tend to be characterised by individual-based approaches both theoretically and methodologically, while sociological approaches remain underutilised or even marginal. In this study, we discuss the potential of Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory in the analysis of gambling. As opposed to positivist or individualistic approaches, Luhmann’s work is strongly constructivist: neither systems nor their components are seen to be made up of individuals. Using systems theory in informing gambling research distances the research interests from individuals and directs it towards societal mechanisms, structures, and processes. Therefore, a systems theoretical approach can offer novel tools to study gambling, but also the paradigm of gambling research itself. This paper demonstrates how systems theory can critically inform gambling research through five operationalisations: gambling as a system, the gambling experience, the regulation of gambling economies, gambling providers as organisations, and systems theory as a methodological program. These five operationalisations can serve as an important window to widen perspectives on gambling
What is special about gambling? A comparison of public discourse on Finnish state monopolies in rail traffic, gambling, and alcohol
Full text linkFinland has one of the last fully monopolistic gambling sectors in Europe. Unlike in most Western European countries, the monopoly is also consolidated and enjoys a wide support as opposed to license-based competition. This paper analyses whether this preference for monopoly provision is due to the particularities of the Finnish society or rather to those of the Finnish gambling sector. We do this by comparing public discourses in media texts (N=143) from 2014 to 2017 regarding monopolies operating in alcohol retail, rail traffic and gambling sectors. The results show that gambling appears to be special even in the Finnish national context. While the Finnish alcohol retail and railroad traffic markets have been liberalised during the study period, the gambling monopoly has been concurrently strengthened despite similar political and international pressures towards dismantling. The discussion suggests that the differing outcomes reflect the varying positions of monopolies, their stakeholders and the justifications put forward. Intertwined stakeholder interests in the gambling sector appear to amplify consensus politics and set gambling apart from the other cases
Gambling and Social Theory - Part 1
Full text linkA Critical Gambling Studies blog entry on gambling and social theory. The interactive version of this blog is available at: https://criticalgamblingstudies.blogspot.com/2020/06/gambling-and-social-theory-part-1.htm