Pathways to Excessive Gambling

A Societal Perspective on Youth and Adult Gambling Pursuits

Charlotte Fabiansson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317083283
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

Pathways to Excessive Gambling draws upon extensive empirical research amongst young people and problem gamblers in Australia, comparing it with situations in other territories, to shed light on social, recreational gambling and the ways in which this can lead to excessive gambling. It highlights the relationship between the local community, sports clubs, governments, social recreation, economy and regulation of gambling venues, identifying the social indicators that typify situations which commonly lead to excessive gambling. By developing a 'society-based' perspective, this volume recognizes problem gambling as an issue for the whole society rather than just the individual, focusing on the availability of gambling and identifying its capacity, as a construct, to encourage or restrict the behaviour of the individual. As such, this book will be of significance to social scientists with interests in gambling, young people, social problems, and the sociology of leisure and culture.

Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 Background

Gambling has always fascinated people. Throughout the ancient world and right up to today, gambling has been openly supported in some cultures, while in others, treated as a distraction from important work. In ancient and historical Egyptian, Greek and Roman writings, references to gambling can be found. Archeological excavations have uncovered not only tablets referring to gambling, but also implements associated with gambling. In China, such implements have been discovered dating back as far as 2300 BC; in Egypt ivory dice made before 1500 BC have been found and a tablet referring to gambling was found in one of the pyramids of Giza. By 3000 BC astragals (knucklebones) and card games were played. The card game ‘primero’ was played in Egypt; it is the predecessor to modern poker and an early European card game. To be a spectator at chariot races and play dice were the games for the common people, while horse and dog racing were reserved for royalty and the noble groups of the society (Ashton 1968).

In the twenty-first century gambling is still a common and popular activity. Horse racing, lottery products, gaming machines and casino table games have been developed from ancient gambling forms and gambling traditions and gambling has gained a social recreational status in some societies. The recreational status of gambling is central to the main arguments of the book, the way recreational gambling has become integral to the social milieu, where governments and community groups have utilised people’s interest in gambling to collect money for community projects. Lottery systems are used to raise money for health and community projects where the available public funds are insufficient to the purpose, thus people and their communities are provided with facilities that would otherwise be beyond the funding scope of the public purse. Additionally, governments gain substantial revenue from taxation of gaming profits, thus it has become an indispensable income source.

Furthermore, gambling has proliferated, growing from a local, community based and personal activity into a global anonymous phenomenon where the gambler can gamble from anywhere in the world. In societies, where gambling is legal and has gained a social recreational status, it is widely promoted in the mass media. Advertisements of gambling products are directed at the individual, emphasising how a big win would change his or her life and create a carefree future. These gambling advertisements can be seen and heard most days in mass and other media.

In Australia in July 2009, the Powerball lottery stake reached A$80 million and in the previous month the Lotto lottery stake was A$90 million. These winning stakes were the hitherto highest lottery stakes of any Australian lottery game. In the days leading up to the draws, both lotteries were given extensive mass media publicity, which enticed more than the usual regular customers into buying Lotto and Powerball tickets. By Australian standards, these winning stakes were exceptionally high, but not when compared with other jurisdictions or global lottery systems. In Italy (August 2009), the right numbers in the SuperEnalotto finally was won giving the winner or winners €146.9 million (£128.3 million; US$211.8 million) (other examples, Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Other examples of high lotto wins

What is often lost in the hype of a large lotto win are the odds of picking the winning numbers. Irrespective of the method used, if the numbers need to be in the right order or if the numbers are picked from a different set of numbers, the chance of winning is in the range of one in 13,983,816 (for picking six numbers out of 49 numbers), one in 76,275,360 in for example the EuroMillions lottery (picking five numbers between one and 50 and two lucky star numbers from a pool of nine numbers) or larger depending on the distinctive rules used to pick the numbers.

Gambling stories reported in the media most commonly have an element of the sensational and range across stories about people who have won large amounts of money or gambled away millions of dollars on casino tables, electronic gaming machines or at the horse track, whether they used their own money or embezzled money. There is less perceived newsworthiness in stories of the excessive small-scale gambler who gambled his or her whole monthly salary in one session. The money lost is generally not in the hundreds of thousands, but it is the family’s entire available funds, until the next payday or welfare cheque. For the gambler’s family it is a devastating situation when there is no money for food, clothes, bills or even school excursions – but it is hardly newsworthy.

Gambling thus has many facets. This book examines gambling as a social recreational activity in local community settings – the type of gambling in which people from all walks of life participate, from the seemingly innocuous introduction of young people to gambling with family and friends through to the adult excessive gambler who requires professional counselling. It covers the regular gambler who plays on gaming machines, this is the gambler who patronises local community gambling venues, but is rarely mentioned in the media. These gamblers are neither big winners nor losers, but constitute the core group and the biggest group of gamblers at community clubs. They are more likely to play with smaller amounts, tens, hundreds or maybe single figure thousands of dollars per session; they are numerous and might play several times a week or sometimes every day. These regular gamblers are the gambling venues’ best customers.

The research in this book explores gambling from a societal perspective where the community and the social environment are essential components to explain gambling and to understand pathways to excessive gambling. To understand adverse effects of gambling we need to understand the community and what is meant by the concept of community. By community we draw on Wellman’s concept which (2001: 228) defines ‘… “community” as networks of interpersonal ties that provide sociability, support, information, a sense of belonging and social identity’. The definition captures the essence of community life in today’s society where community life is a mediated affiliation of social belonging that keeps people, groups and organisations together through a spectrum of interactional possibilities from situations of direct human face-to-face interaction to indirect interaction through electronic communication. ‘We find community in networks, not groups. … In networked societies boundaries are permeable, interactions are with diverse others, connections switch between multiple networks, and hierarchies can be flatter and recursive’ (Wellman 2001: 227).

The research is situated within the community construct, a construct that has a spatial as well as a social connotation. The geographically defined community is especially difficult for individuals and groups to adjust to if they do not adhere to the same values as the dominant philosophy of the community. To be an outsider is difficult in any situation, but especially if the individual does not have other spatial or social networks to rely on, such as a family, work colleagues, ethnic group or live in a supportive community environment. The community ethos can be either inclusive or exclusive of residents who are seen as not embracing the accepted community and personal values (Dempsey 1990; White and Wyn 2004).

To belong to a community or a community network does not necessarily include the whole community, the whole household or the entire family setting. The community concept as related to issues and activities does not necessarily have a geographical or physical aspect, but rather it involves activities or networks that create an atmosphere of belonging, and where shared goals are the connections that keep people together. Essential factors in social networks are that people care about the same things and that they feel valued and important in that setting, this is what underpins their sense of belonging.

From this perspective, gambling analysis can focus on sociological and societal rather than individual psychological causes of gambling. This approach is applied in the following analyses where the focal point is young people and their initiation into recreational gambling activities, through local clubs’ sporting activities and the subsequent adult pathways to excessive gambling. This continuation occurs in the social and physical milieux in which young people grow up and is especially prevalent in residential areas where alternative and affordable social recreational opportunities are limited. In such cases, the local sports, ethnic or professional club can become a social place, a ‘second home’ where people feel welcome and safe, irrespective of social status. This may be especially true for people whose personal circumstances are complex, who do not have a good relationship with their family, do not belong to a social network or perhaps are not interested in belonging to a social network. Where such characteristics exist, local clubs can compensate as social meeting places and create a community without social commitments.

1.2 Overview of the book

The book explores gambling in the local and global society, in its historical and contemporary context. It examines the history of gambling, the acceptance and early regulation of gambling and the expansion of gambling in a number of nation states. It analyses the interrelationships between government regulation, taxation, the gaming industry and the diversity of gambling forms, young people’s introduction to gambling, experiences of gambling and adults’ encounters with excessive gambling.

The presented national and international research is analysed from a societal perspective and the Australian research is grounded within the discipline of sociology. Thus the book explores gambling in the local community, it examines gambling as social and environmental constructs with the focus on societal factors which can encourage or restrict individual gambling. The societal perspective looks beyond the notion that an individual’s problem can be explained through ‘faults’ in the character of the individual: ‘faults’ that are caused by personal or behavioural shortcomings, including a lack of self-control. Research that examines the phenomena from the perspective of the individual, frequently explains the ‘problem’ of excessive gambling as an outcome of the person’s behaviour. This type of explanation is more commonly heard and therefore appears more acceptable because other players (including their social environment, access to gambling opportunities, government regulation and the gambling industry) are excluded as contributing to the ‘problem’, at least as long as the ‘problem’ does not become an embarrassment, too extensive or a public predicament for the jurisdiction.

By contrast the research which informs this book recognises the individual as the gambler, a person with a problem, but goes further by treating gambling as a social problem, that goes beyond the individual. This book therefore explores the social environment and the situation surrounding the gambler to gain a holistic understanding of pathways to excessive gambling. It follows the progress from the initial introduction of young people to gambling to the destruction of family relationships, work and financial despair.

Governments regulate the gambling industry in an attempt to mitigate its adverse effects. The book examines gambling regulation from a global perspective, with an overview of the gambling regulation in the jurisdictions of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. The extent of gambling in Australia is examined through research conducted into young people’s introduction to and participation in gambling for money and through research about adults’ pathways to excessive gambling. The Australian research is based on two research projects: one which explored young people’s gambling experiences in rural and regional communities¹ and another that studied adults’ gambling experiences and their pathways² to excessive gambling where professional counselling was required to manage the adverse effects of their gambling.^3,4 While the original research is based on Australian conditions, comparisons are made with national and international research as appropriate, thus analysing gambling from different jurisdictions’ perspectives. As the analysis of gambling is from a societal perspective, it sets the presented research apart from the main body of gambling studies, which are undertaken within the psychology discipline with an individual focus.

The book is presented in seven chapters with a concluding chapter on the future of gambling research.

Chapter 1 introduces the gambling construct, what is meant by gambling, gambling’s role in society and a brief history of gambling in Egypt, Middle East, China and Europe. Additionally, it discusses why gambling is a societal problem causing hardship for gamblers and their families.

Chapter 2 concentrates on a review of national and international gambling research. To present a comprehensive literature review of the whole field of gambling research and an inclusive representation of national and international gambling research is however, not feasible within a single monograph. The presented research is thus limited to national and international research relevant to the issues discussed, i.e. societal issues in relation to excessive gambling and issues related to young people’s introduction and participation in gambling pursuits. This section is followed by an analysis of the ‘leisure’ concept, its expansion in contemporary society and how gambling has become an accepted social recreational activity. It also includes a discussion about the ‘youth’ construct; how the youth period is defined and young people’s position in our contemporary society.

Chapter 3 sets gambling in a global context, it presents forms of gambling and details gambling expenditure in different jurisdictions. It examines international gambling research, gambling expenditure and gambling regulation. Gambling regulation and responsible gambling strategies have been implemented in most jurisdictions to limit the negative effects of excessive gambling, but have at the same time allowed the gambling industry to augment their activities within the regulatory framework. Regulation of gambling is examined in the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. Acceptance of gambling, how it is promoted in the media, how people are affected by excessive gambling and the implications of cultural differences are also discussed. Additionally, the chapter examines in detail, gambling regulation and electronic gaming machine expenditure in Australia and particularly in the state of New South Wales, in order to provide an in-depth understanding of the development of gambling, the scope of gambling and governments’ taxation of the gambling sector.

Chapter 4 concentrates solely on gambling in Australia, the club culture and community clubs’ contribution to local community life, especially the relationship between local clubs, sports activities, community social recreation and hospitality and gambling activities. It explores the sports club environment with its mixture of sports activities, hospitality and entertainment, and gambling activities and how gambling is not only the key to the financial success of the club but is central to many club activities. This close relationship between financial concerns and recreational gambling pursuits is explored by considering local clubs’ involvement in the Community Development Support Expenditure (CDSE) scheme. This is the official channel for local support where local governments identify projects and organisations in need of financial support. Clubs involved in the CDSE scheme gain tax credits for their financial commitment, thus creating an incentive to support local community projects. Furthermore, it examines ways in which clubs establish long-term relationships with local residents including introducing pre-school children to club-sponsored sports activities; this creates an enduring attachment that frequently remains throughout a person’s life. The chapter also examines cultural acceptance of gambling and sports clubs’ dominance in providing affordable social recreation and entertainment opportunities, especially in low socio-economic areas where alternative leisure activities are limited. Finally, the chapter examines the adult gambling profile, and electronic gaming machine gambling in Australia and in particular New South Wales.

Chapter 5 analyses the findings from the Australian youth research, it explores young people’s gambling participation and their introduction to gambling within the family environment. It examines high school students’ gambling experiences in two small rural and regional communities and sets gambling within the social recreational environment as a continuation of sports activities and as a part of their social and leisure activities pursued with family and friends. The risk-taking behaviour of young people is analysed in relation to gambling, how gambling changes from a social leisure activity to excessive gambling. Finally, it examines issues that trigger excessive gambling where the pursuit of winning becomes the gambler’s only focus.

Chapter 6 presents case studies that elucidate people’s pathways from recreational gambling to excessive gambling, from a person’s early introduction to gambling and how the gambling developed into an activity that takes over the person’s life and where counselling is ultimately sought. The research explores the circumstances surrounding the introduction to gambling, the importance of the first win, reactions to losing money, the gamblers socio-economic situation, and the circumstances that changed social recreational gambling into an activity with serious social, mental, legal and financial impacts and ramifications beyond the individual gambler.

Chapter 7 summarises the issues discussed and considers what conclusions can be drawn from the two research projects and from national and international gambling research. Finally, Chapter 8 explores the future of gambling research, its role in policy development and the implications of gambling on young people’s well being.

The limitations of comparative and statistical research are well recognised. In all research where facts and statistical data are assembled from different sources, discrepancies will arise. This can be due to reporting irregularities, different classifications, different years of reporting and incomplete or non-verified official statistics; consequently many of the figures are necessarily estimates. Furthermore, federal and state governments do not always make public comprehensive statistical information or research reports about gambling – for a variety of reasons. There are further complications when making international comparisons.

The bulk of gambling research has hitherto concentrated on exploring individual factors in attempting to explain excessive gambling – even when the research has been broadened to include health issues and access to gambling opportunities. Furthermore, the main part of gambling research has been based on small samples, covering specific and limited issues relevant to a jurisdiction. There are only few national or international studies (cf. Parke, Rigbye, Parke, Wood, Sjenitzer, and Vaughan Williams 2007; Wood, Griffiths and Parke 2007), and even fewer studies analysing gambling from a sociological and societal perspective. Research based on limited samples makes comparative re...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Gambling Research and Gambling as a Recreational Pursuit
• 3 Global Gambling and Regulation of Gambling
• 4 Gambling in Australia
• 5 Youth Gambling
• 6 Adults’ Excessive Gambling Pathways
• 7 Concluding Discussion
• 8 Has Gambling Research a Future?
• List of References
• Index