Critical Gambling Studies (Journal)
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Sponsored reports: David Baxter on the interface between research and policy
No full textThis non-peer reviewed interview, originally published on The Grey Lit Café podcast, is published as part of the Critical Gambling Studies blog.
CitationSponsored reports: David Baxter on the interface between research and policy. The Grey Lit Café. https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10829288-sponsored-reports-david-baxter-on-the-interface-between-research-and-policy
DescriptionA significant portion of gambling research funding comes from non-academic sponsors—mainly governments or government-organized bodies — and the output of the sponsored project is usually a research report to the sponsor rather than academic journal articles or books. Research published in this way is of comparable quality to academic publications, but is referred to by librarians and information managers as "grey literature" because its limited distribution can make it difficult to discover and manage.Many academic journal articles on gambling are in fact spin-offs that originated from such sponsored projects. Researchers adapt their work into academic articles to reach new audiences and build the academic body of knowledge, but also because grey literature contributions receive much less recognition in academics\u27 career evaluations.In this episode of The Grey Lit Café, David Baxter has a critical discussion with host Anthony Haynes about the challenges gambling researchers face when doing sponsored research, how the conflicts of interest of sponsored research shape the academic body of knowledge on gambling, and ways that gambling researchers and government sponsors can better support each other\u27s needs as well as the needs of people experiencing gambling harms whom the sponsored research is intended to help
Evolving Understandings of Bingo in Four Decades of Literature: From Eyes Down to New Vistas
Full text linkBingo is a distinct, enduring but understudied form of gambling. It provides comfort and pleasure to many of its players while also causing harm to some. While traditionally seen as low harm, it is being reshaped by technological and regulatory change. Despite this, there is no recent overview of the literature on bingo. This narrative review seeks to fill this gap by exploring the development of literature on bingo since the 1980s, first providing a chronological overview of writing on bingo and then a brief account of major themes in the literature. The literature reviewed was primarily identified through searches of academic databases using search terms such as betting, bingo, electronic and gambling. We find that bingo research makes a number of important contributions: it allows better understanding of groups of overlooked gamblers, corrects biases in gambling literature, highlights the importance of social and structural factors in understanding gambling and employs methodological approaches that are congruent with the people and practices being studied. Additionally, it provides new perspectives on gambling in terms of skill, affect, harm and control and offers a distinct viewpoint to analyse gambling and other phenomena
Mind the Gap: The Fantasy and Façades of Macao’s Themed Resort Casinos
Full text linkThis article is a commentary by Richard Fitzgerald and Mark R. Johnson, written for the Philosophy and Gambling: Reflections from Macao special issue of Critical Gambling Studies.
Daring to Play Oneself: Gambling, Psychoanalysis and Practical Self-determination
Full text linkThe critical intention of this article does not focus on a comprehensive socio-cultural evaluation of gambling. Rather, its perspective is guided towards ways of picturing gambling and the subject of the gambler in different theoretical contexts. It is argued that one might expand philosophical conceptions of practical self-determination by taking an interdisciplinary look at gambling. However, such an attempt runs into the danger of painting an overly simplistic picture of self-control as self-continence, which can be found in theoretical approaches pathologizing the gambler. In order to avoid such an outcome, an interdisciplinary analogy combining psychoanalytical and philosophical thought is presented. This analogy brings together the perspectives of the analysand and the gambler. By confronting these scenarios of human agency, it is shown that practical self-determination depends on instances of daring that can be related to certain gambling practices, too. The interdisciplinary view on gambling highlights its potentials for self-exploration, without neglecting the fact that an appropriate realization of such a self-exploration requires experiential and interpersonal conditions that often collide with the harsh reality of gambling practices
Social Costs of Gambling Harm in Italy
Full text linkThe aim of this study is to provide an estimate of the social costs of gambling in Italy. In line with other research on social costs, the present study estimates the consequences of gambling harm on public finances, focusing on the estimated costs to treat high-risk gamblers, costs associated with productivity losses, costs of unemployment, personal and family costs, crime and legal costs. We used two different approaches to calculate these costs. The first approach, used for health care costs, consists of using the lump sum spent to prevent the harm caused to high-risk gamblers. The second approach involves estimating the number of high-risk gamblers causing the cost, which is then multiplied with the average unit cost per person. Our estimates of the annual social costs of gambling in Italy – more than EUR 2.3 billion – demonstrate a substantial economic burden to society. However, the costs are a substantial underestimate, as they are limited to those of a public nature and do not take into consideration those costs borne by moderate and low-risk gamblers, as well as affected others
Does Tribal Gaming Generate Net Benefits?
Full text linkSince the late 1980s, casino-style gaming has become an increasingly popular economic development strategy for federally-recognized tribes throughout the United States. What is the net effect of tribal gaming? According to economic theory, the opening of a casino could have negative economic ramifications that offset initial improvements in employment and wages. However, my research indicates that tribal gaming is responsible for sustained improvements in employment and wages on federal reservations. These labor market gains appear to be concentrated on Indigenous people living on the host reservations. I also find evidence of rising prices on reservations that open casinos, but the average price increase is smaller than the average wage increase, suggesting that tribal gaming generates net benefits locally.  
Social Representations of Responsibility in Gambling among Young Adult Gamblers: Control Yourself, Know the Rules, do not become Addicted, and Enjoy the Game...
Full text linkThe responsible gambling approach is the subject of significant debate in the scientific community due to its tendency to individualize responsibility, focusing heavily on the gambler’s responsibility for gambling-related harm. Despite the gambler, and their responsibility, being the focus of responsible gambling discourse, their voices and perspectives remain largely absent. This study aims to address this limitation by documenting the social representations of the concept of responsibility held by gamblers themselves. How does the gambler perceive the concept of responsibility? Do they have an individual-centred understanding of this concept or are they able to distinguish their individual responsibility from that of the other stakeholders? This qualitative research is based on semi-structured interviews with 30 young adults (aged between 18 and 30 years old) who participated in gambling activities in the year preceding the research interview (2018). The results reveal that the social representations of responsibility held by gamblers fit into five categories: self control, knowing the rules and making the right decision, enjoying the game, not becoming an addict, and preventing harms related to gambling. All of these categories were found to be rooted in an individual perspective of responsibility. These results are discussed in light of the process of constructing the social representations of responsibility within the responsible gambling approach and in a neoliberal context
The Myth of the "Integrated Resort": Selective History, Retrospective Branding, and Fungible Assets
Full text linkThe expansion of the casino industry in Asia over the last two decades has purportedly given rise to a new development model known as the “Integrated Resort” (IR). Within state, professional and public discourses, the IR is often defined in three ways: 1. it evolved from large multi-attraction casino projects in Las Vegas; 2. it is distinguished by the fact that the casino occupies a small area of the property but makes a large contribution to its total revenue; and 3. the casino helps to make non-gaming attractions like museums financially viable. While not all factually inaccurate, I argue that these claims are strategic representations that legitimize and promote the IR in this part of the world. By triangulating different sets of discourses and participating in industry events like the Global Gaming Expo, I unravel the politics of these claims and trace their shifting effects as the IR is translated into various forms of regulatory controls and corporate practices. The emergence of the IR signals a historical moment in the normalization of commercial gambling in Asia, and shows how this transition can proceed through an architectural medium
Book Review: Ng, Janet. (2019). Dreamworld of Casino Capitalism: Macao’s Society, Literature, and Culture. Cambria Press. 257 pp. ISBN: 9781621964278
Full text linkBook Review: Ng, Janet. (2019). Dreamworld of Casino Capitalism: Macao’s Society, Literature, and Culture. Cambria Press. 257 pp. ISBN: 978162196427
A Critical Review of the Scholarly Discourse on Gambling Disorder Treatment: Part 2
Full text linkThis article presents a critical systematic review of the literature on disordered gambling treatment, with a focus on the “how” of treatment delivery. A review of six peer-reviewed research databases was performed, along with hand searches of select journals. Peer-reviewed articles that discussed or evaluated psychological and relational treatments of gambling disorder were selected for a review and coded independently by all members of the research team. The sample for this study included 445 articles that were published in the English language over the past 50 years, through June 2019. The sample included not only evaluations and case studies (k = 231) but also descriptive research (k = 49), meta-analyses (k = 10), and literature reviews (k = 155). The results showed that face-to-face, professionally facilitated treatment of individuals has remained the primary focus of problem gambling literature during the period under study. That said, a number of alternative treatment modalities have emerged, particularly in the last two decades. This includes increased reliance on technology (i.e., internet and telephone/text) as an adjunct to face-to-face treatment or as a means for delivering stand-alone professionally facilitated or self-directed interventions. Our discussion includes the benefits of these approaches as reflected in the literature while also situating findings within discourses on Western-dominated trends toward the use of technology, prioritization of efficiency, and individual focus in mental health treatment