Pro-Gambling culture

This paper analyses gambling within the notion of culture. Examining its origins, we find out that gambling is strongly intertwined with culture. Due to human development and cultural complexity, the perceptions of luck, taking risk and chance change over time, but still have an important impact on gambling activity and detecting its codes. Historical evidence of gambling shows that gambling developed with different intensity, and has been mostly affected by European colonization. Gambling culture can be distinguished depending on the historical backgrounds, institutional structure and religious backgrounds (among other factors). The secondary analysis was prepared by taking raw data from the World Value Survey (2014) and analysing the correlations between gambling components. The selected components prove to be significantly correlated with the Taking Risk factor (secularization factor) and represent a significant contribution to the finalization of our findings. The final results propose four types of gambling culture present today, i.e. Simple Gambling Culture, Denied Gambling Culture, Transitioning Gambling Culture and Pro-Gambling Culture. Simple Gambling culture has the least gambling characteristic, whereas Pro-gambling Culture is a newly introduced term which represents the contemporary gambling cultural orientations.

Cultures and spaces of convenience gambling

Background: In many countries, the bulk of gambling takes place in convenience spaces in relatively confined, local markets. Nevertheless, research on gambling locations has so far concentrated on destination gambling in casinos. Aim: This article studies convenience gambling and distinguishes special (e.g., gambling arcades) from everyday convenience gambling spaces (e.g., electronic gambling machines in supermarkets). Rather than geographically or functionally analysing the harm potential of convenience gambling, we approach the issue through cultural theory. Method: We conducted reception analytical group interviews with Finnish and French gamblers. This method is based on focus-group discussions stimulated by six short film clips. Our data consisted of 14 Finnish and 14 French groups, altogether 110 participants. The interviews were analysed thematically on the basis of the types of discourses the participants evoked. Results: The Finnish respondents discussed how their gambling culture was embedded in their everyday lives. They saw it as a harmless pastime if the sums used were small and otherwise unbudgeted. The French informants instead strongly connected gambling with the casino and were suspicious of the easy, cheap availability of convenience gambling. They also differentiated between exceptional and mundane spaces of convenience gambling, which the interviewed Finnish gamblers did not. Conclusions: Social or cultural availability is not only a matter of access; it also influences gamblers after they have entered the gambling venue. Structural characteristics interact with the gambler and the setting, but they are also mediated by the cultural context.

Sports Betting-Motivated Corruption in Australia: An Under-Studied Phenomenon

With the continual rise of gambling methods there is a need to better understand sports betting-motivated corruption in the Australian context. This literature review highlights seven predominant themes: the Australian gambling culture, betting opportunities available, the threat of sports betting to the integrity of sport, corruption in sport, involvement of transnational organized crime groups in sports corruption, the theoretical perspectives used in sports corruption research, and anti-corruption strategies which are important in the prevention and law enforcement of this criminal behavior. The review identifies significant gaps in existing knowledge surrounding sports betting-motivated corruption, highlighting the need for further research in this area.Keywords: corruption, sports betting, gambling, law enforcement, sports integrity

Ethical Challenges in Participant Observation: A Reflection on Ethnographic Fieldwork

In this essay I reflect on the ethical challenges of ethnographic fieldwork I personally experienced in a female gambling study. By assuming a covert research role, I was able to observe natural occurrences of female gambling activities but unable to make peace with disturbing feelings of my research concealment. By making my study overt, I was able to fulfill ethical obligations as a researcher but unable to get female gamblers to speak their minds. I responded to such ethical dilemmas by adjusting the level of involvement, participating in female gambling culture as an insider and observing it as an outsider. This fieldwork suggests that the ethics of participant observation should be addressed in relation to the sensitivity of the research topic, the vulnerability of the researched individuals, and the plasticity of field membership roles.