Bingo Regulation and the Feminist Political Economy of Everyday Gambling: In Search of the Anti-Heroic

Abstract

This paper uses bingo—a lottery-style game particularly popular with older working-class women—to take forward feminist political economy debates about the everyday. It highlights consumption and regulation as key to research on everyday political economy, and aims to contribute to studies of gambling as a marker of the everyday within critical political economy. Rather than seeing gambling primarily in terms of vernacular risk-taking, however, it argues that gambling is also a pathway into exploring other, more self-effacing political economies—of entertainment, fundraising, sharing, and ‘having a laugh’. Focusing on three key areas of regulatory dispute (over how to win bingo; who can participate; and what defines the game), the research suggests that players and workers are (re)enabling the diverse, plural nature of bingo as a political economic formulation—involving winning; entertainment; fundraising; care; flirting; and playful speculation—in the face of technological and legal processes aiming to standardize the game’s meaning as commercial gambling.     

The Social and Psychological Impacts of Gambling in the Cree Communities of Northern Québec

A detailed survey of gambling, addiction and mental health was conducted with randomly selected respondents (n = 506) from four Cree communities of Northern Quebec. The study examined the current patterns of gambling in relation to demographic, social, and psychological factors. Instruments included the Canadian Problem Gambling Index, Addiction Severity Index, Beck Depression Inventory and the computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule for psychiatric diagnoses. Overall, 69.2 % of the total sample participated in any gambling/gaming activities over the past year; 20.6 % of this group were classified as moderate/high risk gamblers, and 3.2 % were classified in the highest “problem gambling” category. Considering the entire sample, the overall prevalence of problem gambling was 2.2 %. Women were significantly more likely to play bingo (56.6 %) compared to men (35.1 %) and they played more frequently; 20.8 % of women versus 3.8 % of men played once/week or more often. Compared to the no/low risk gamblers, a greater proportion of moderate/high risk gamblers were cigarette smokers (44.8 vs. 56.3 %), they were more likely to meet DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence (21.2 vs. 46.2 %), and they were more likely to report moderate to severe depressive symptoms in the past month. Risk factors for problem gambling included traumatic life events (physical and emotional abuse), anxiety and depression, as well as drug/alcohol abuse. The high rates of comorbidity between problem gambling, tobacco dependence, substance abuse and other psychological problems demonstrate that gambling among some Cree adults is part of a pattern of high-risk factors for negative long-term health consequences. The results also have implications for treatment, suggesting that interventions for gambling disorders should not focus on gambling alone but rather the constellation of high-risk behaviours that pose a risk to recovery and well-being.     

Traditional and innovated gambling products: an exploration of player preferences

There is concern that recent innovations of traditional face-to-face gambling products may lead to increased harm because of the tendency for innovated products to share certain structural features with electronic gaming machines (EGMs). The VICES framework focusses on several mechanisms known to influence gambling behaviour: visual and auditory enhancements, illusions of control, cognitive complexity, expedited play and social customization. The current study applied the VICES framework to an investigation of player experiences with both traditional and innovated gambling products. Through a series of six focus groups (N = 40) with regular bingo, poker and casino table game players and sports bettors, we examined the characteristics of innovated gambling products and their influences on player experience and the risk of gambling harm. Findings suggest that traditional games are perceived as more social, more enjoyable and less harmful. This was largely attributed to the low social interaction, expedited play and increased potential for consumption that is associated with EGM-type gambling activity. Further, we suggest that VICES, pending some revision, is a valid and applicable framework by which to identify characteristics of innovated products that influence player experience and behaviour.     

Who Plays Bingo in Later Life? The Sedentary Lifestyles of ‘Little Old Ladies’

Abstract Bingo is a popular past time with less than 20% of seniors, but the prevailing stereotype of bingo players describes elderly women with nothing better to do, smoking heavily while gambling away their limited income day after day. Little research has actually explored the lifestyles of seniors who frequent the bingo halls or identified social factors explaining who plays and why. Purpose The purpose of this study was to clarify the social context and lifestyle characteristics of seniors who regularly invest money on bingo. Design and Methods A 30-min telephone survey was conducted randomly with quotas for gender and urban/rural location with 400 Albertans aged 65+. Next, a strategic sample of 44 bingo players was added to the population sample to strengthen the dependent variable for regression analyses. Multiple regression analyses were used to define key characteristics of bingo players among 10 social or contextual factors and 5 lifestyle variables. Results Being female, more elderly, living in rental accommodation, receiving federal income supplements and reporting more health problems were significant predictors of more money typically spent on bingo (18% variance explained), and these findings lend support to the “little old lady” stereotype. However, sedentary living, rather than smoking, was the only significant and predictive lifestyle pattern, suggesting that the lifestyle vices projected about bingo players are not entirely accurate. Conclusions Elderly women of marginal means do dominate the game of bingo in terms of money spent, but their gaming lifestyle apparently has less to do with habits of smoking, eating poorly, drinking alcohol, or having excessive leisure time, and more to do with sedentary recreation that is socially delimited by their gender, age, income and health.     

Illusory Control, Gambling, and Video Gaming: An Investigation of Regular Gamblers and Video Game Players

There is a paucity of empirical research examining the possible association between gambling and video game play. In two studies, we examined the association between video game playing, erroneous gambling cognitions, and risky gambling behaviour. One hundred and fifteen participants, including 65 electronic gambling machine (EGM) players and 50 regular video game players, were administered a questionnaire that examined video game play, gambling involvement, problem gambling, and beliefs about gambling. We then assessed each groups' performance on a computerised gambling task that involved real money. A post-game survey examined perceptions of the skill and chance involved in the gambling task. The results showed that video game playing itself was not significantly associated with gambling involvement or problem gambling status. However, among those persons who both gambled and played video games, video game playing was uniquely and significantly positively associated with the perception of direct control over chance-based gambling events. Further research is needed to better understand the nature of this association, as it may assist in understanding the impact of emerging digital gambling technologies.     

Gambling among primary school students

This study identifies the gambling behavior of 1,320 primary school students aged 8 to 12 of the 4th, 5th and 6th grades. Eighty-six percent admitted to having, at some time or another, bet money. Lotteries are the most popular form of gambling for this age group. Sixty-one percent of these students gamble with lotteries. In descending order of popularity, other games played by students were: bingo, card-playing for money, bets on sports, wagering on specific events, video gambling (video poker and slot machines), and finally betting on games of skill. Gambling behaviors differed according to gender. More than 40% of respondents reported gambling once a week or more for at least one game. Because of the early development of gambling behavior in children, prevention programs for pathological gambling should be implemented as early as the fourth grade.This research was supported by a grant from the Fonds Richelieu.     

Gambling disorder and suicidality within the UK: an analysis investigating mental health and gambling severity as risk factors to suicidality

Greater severities of gambling behaviour and poorer mental health have been identified in the literature as risk factors for suicidality within gambling disorder (GD) populations. This is the first known study within the UK to use empirical data, taken from a UK treatment clinic for GD (National Problem Gambling Clinic, UK) to explore the associations between current suicidality (thoughts and plans) and measures assessing gambling severity and mental health. Self-report data from 122 participants were collected during the intake process at the clinic through a variety of methods including the use of questionnaires and a standardized 90-minute interview with a psychologist. Reported suicidality was high (current suicidal thoughts [28.7%] and plans [6.6%]), yet only one measure of gambling severity (estimated total losses) was found to be inversely associated with suicidality. Indices of poorer mental health were found to have a greater association with suicidality than measures of gambling severity, and a logistic regression analysis identified depressive symptomology and a history of psychiatric disorder in the participants’ family as significant factors associated with suicidality. Overall, within GD populations, factors associated with poorer mental health rather than gambling severity are seemingly a greater risk factor in patients with suicidality.     

An Experiment on the Social Facilitation of Gambling Behavior

Research and theory regarding the social facilitation effect generates the expectation that the presence of other gamblers (or co-actors) in a gaming venue is likely to intensify individual gambling behavior and magnify losses. Fifty male and 66 female participants (116 total) played a computer-simulated electronic gaming machine with a fixed winning sequence, followed by an indefinite losing sequence. Measures of the intensity of gambling behavior included the final payout (a direct measure of losses), average bet-size, number of trials played, and the speed of play. Some participants received false feedback from the computer designed to suggest that other gamers in adjacent rooms were playing and sometimes winning at the same game. Persons who received both sight and sound information, including winning bells and instant messages regarding the wins of other (fake) players, placed more bets and lost more money compared to the other conditions with less information.     

Gambling behaviours and associated familial influences among 9-year old Pacific children in New Zealand

There is a paucity of research investigating child gambling, particularly studies that do not use retrospective designs. The presented findings provide cross-sectional data of the gambling behaviours of 874 9-year old Pacific children from a birth cohort study (recruited from one hospital) investigating health, developmental and social outcomes for Pacific children and their families in New Zealand. Structured interviews were administered to participants (mothers and children), face to face, in their homes (mothers) or school (children). Child gambling behaviours and associations with some maternal behaviours were investigated; five gambling participation questions were included in the child interview. Almost all child respondents (96%) reported having played card games with family or friends and 60% reported participation in housie (bingo), although only 27% reported having bet with money. Associations were noted between child gambling and household deprivation, and effectiveness of parental monitoring. There was no association between children's gambling and mothers' gambling. This is the first research to examine gambling in Pacific children at 9 years of age within a familial context. It will allow exploration of links between parental gambling and child development of gambling behaviours, as well as risk and protective factors for problem gambling at future data collection phases of the study.     

On Doing Research in a Clinical Setting

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a stand-alone personalized normative feedback (PNF) intervention targeting misperceptions of gambling among college students. Participants: Undergraduates (N = 136; 55% male) who reported gambling in the past 30 days were recruited between September 2011 and March 2012. Methods: Using a randomized clinical trial design, participants were assigned to receive either PNF or an attention control task. In addition to self-report, this study used 2 computer-based risk tasks framed as “gambling opportunities” to assess cognitive and behavioral change at 1 week post intervention. Results: After 1 week, participants receiving PNF showed a marked decrease in perception of other students’ gambling, and evinced lower risk-taking performance on 2 analog measures of gambling. Conclusions: Changes in both self-reported perceived norms and analog gambling behavior suggest that a single, stand-alone PNF intervention may modify gambling among college students. Whether it can impact gambling outside of the laboratory remains untested.     

Italian Adult Gambling Behavior: At Risk and Problem Gambler Profiles

The present study examined adult gambling behaviours from a local perspective in order to assess the adult at risk and problem gambler’s profile stratified by genre and by different forms of game. 4773 Italian adults from 18 to 94 years old were administered a survey to assess socio-cultural information related to gambling behaviour and the SOGS to evaluate gambling behaviour severity. Logistic regression evidenced that both at risk and problem gamblers are associated with male gender, players that use to play to more than one game, gambling with strategy-based games. People with a gambler father or both parents who used to gamble were significantly more associated with problem gambling behaviour than participants with non-gambler parents. These results present adult profiles of at risk and problem providing a more clear understanding about the relationships between gambling behavior severity and type of gambling.     

The Influence of Religiosity on Gambling Participation

Gambling is now a popular legal activity among people around the world. Despite numerous studies on individuals’ gambling behavior, few researchers examine the influence of religiosity on gambling participation. This study investigated the effect of religiosity, measured in terms of frequency of religious participation and importance of faith, on gambling participation across four different types of games: casino, track, lottery, and bingo. Using data collected by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission in 1999, the study found that there was indeed a significant difference in the frequency of religious participation between gamblers and non-gamblers. Moreover, it seemed like the more types of games one played, the lower was their frequency of religious participation. The importance of faith, however, did not seem to have a significant impact on gambling participation. The implications of these findings to businesses and public policy makers were discussed.     

An empirical study of sex differences in gaming machine play among club members

Abstract

This paper helps address a deficiency of gender specific research into gambling. Using predominantly non‐parametric tests, the paper analyses data from 1,257 female and 1,743 male respondents in a telephone survey of 3,000 members selected randomly from six large Sydney clubs. The results support female gambling stereotypes of lower individual bets and lower overall expenditure, but not of lower participation and frequency of play, and shorter duration of gambling sessions. Further, regular female gaming machine players appear more likely than non‐regular female players to be migrants, either young or old, and from lower socio‐economic groups. Regular female gaming machine players also appear to forgo the social side of playing machines, to spend more overall and to be more at risk of problem gambling than non‐regular female players. Finally, the distinguishing socio‐demographic characteristics and machine playing behaviours of regular male gaming machine players are very similar to those for regular female gaming machine players.     

Gambling Harm and Crime Careers

Incarcerated populations across the world have been found to be consistently and significantly more vulnerable to problem gambling than general populations in the same countries. In an effort to gain a more specific understanding of this vulnerability the present study applied latent class analysis and criminal career theory to gambling data collected from a sample of English and Scottish, male and female prisoners (N = 1057). Theoretical links between gambling and crime were tested through three hypotheses: (1) that prisoners in the UK would have higher rates of problem gambling behaviour than the national population; (2) that if the link between gambling and crime is coincidental, gambling behaviour would be highly prevalent in an offending population, and (3) if connections between gambling behaviour and offending are co-symptomatic a mediating factor would show a strong association. The first of these was supported, the second was not supported and the third was partially supported. Latent class analysis found six gambling behaviour clusters measured by responses to the Problem Gambling Severity Index, primarily distinguished by loss chasing behaviour. Longitudinal offending data drawn from the Police National Computer database found four criminal career types, distinguished by frequency and persistence over time. A significant association was found between higher level loss chasing and high rate offending in criminal careers suggesting that impulse control may be a mediating factor for both gambling harm and criminal careers.     

Differences in motivational dimensions across gambling frequency,game choice and medium of play in the United Kingdom

Motivations to gamble in the United Kingdom were examined in relation to gambling preferences and behaviour (gambling frequency, game choice, medium of play). A factor analysis delineated six motivational dimensions for gambling as a leisure activity: socialization through learning, escape, peripheral activity, fun/challenge, socialization through competition, and to win money. The motivational dimensions differed significantly for various gambling frequencies and across choice of games, though not across different media of play. More frequent gamblers chose to gamble for escape and/or fun/challenge purposes, while less frequent gamblers chose to gamble for socialization through learning and peripheral activities. Certain gambling motivations significantly affected decisions to play lottery, roulette, poker, betting and slots, but motivations were not significantly different from each other for bingo, blackjack, fixed-odds betting terminals and football pools. The research extends current knowledge of motivations in the UK and recreational gamblers, introducing a new motivational factor – activities indirectly related to gambling – and emphasizing the relationship between gambling motivations and behaviours. Knowledge of motivations assists casino operators in creating effective marketing strategies and aids lawmakers in better understanding the gambling objectives of their citizenry. These motivational dimensions also serve as a baseline against which problematic motivations can be compared.     

Gambling-related Irrational Beliefs in the Maintenance and Modification of Gambling Behaviour

Abstract

The present study investigated a primary assumption of the cognitive theory of problem gambling, that gambling-related irrational beliefs lead directly to problematic gambling behaviour. Participants (N =114) received a message designed to increase their illusion of control (IOC) over a computerised roulette game, a message designed to decrease their IOC, or a neutral message. Participants then played the game, during which their gambling behaviour was recorded and irrational beliefs were measured. Based on the cognitive model, it was expected that those receiving the IOC enhancement message would evidence greater levels of irrational beliefs and correspondingly more intense gambling behaviour and that those in the IOC reduction condition would show decreased levels of both irrational beliefs and behaviour. However, although conditions differed as to levels of irrational beliefs, there were no significant differences in gambling behaviour. Results are discussed and implications of the results on the cognitive theory of problematic gambling are explored.     

The implementation and effects of Great Britain's National Lottery

This article reviews the implementation of the British National Lottery since the first draw took place in November 1994. It seeks to analyse the experience to date against the background of the concerns expressed prior to its introduction and of the regulatory objectives set by the framework legislation. It also considers the impact that the Lottery is having upon the formulation and implementation of regulatory policy affecting other gambling media. The six sections following the introduction deal in turn with the Lottery's income, permitted games, the participants, the good causes benefiting from its proceeds, its impact on other gambling media, and its place within British government policy concerning the regulation of commercial gambling.Since writing this article, some changes in the National Lottery have taken place (at 1 March 1996). The sales of scratchcards have now declined to £20m a week; 330m prizes totalling £2.7bn have been distributed and there have been 343 jackpot winners, 164 of whom have received in excess of £lm. OFLOT has commissioned research on the socio-economic condition of purchasers, which shows that the average weekly spend is £2.63, and that adults within the socio-economic group C2 have the highest spend (OFLOT, 1996). This research also shows that 22% of a sample of children between the ages of 12 and 15 were spending up to £5 a week on lottery tickets. The turnover for the first year is likely to be in the region of £5.5bn, which to date has produced £1.6bn for the good causes. The total turnover represents slightly less than 0.1% of Great Britain's gross national product. The Government's proposed changes to the regulation of casinos and bingo clubs were published in February (Home Office, 1996).     

Adolescent Gambling Behavior: A Prevalence Study and Examination of the Correlates Associated with Problem Gambling

Eight-hundred and seventeen adolescent high school students in the Montreal region completed the DSM-IV-J gambling screen along with a questionnaire devised by the authors inquiring about their gambling behavior, including items assessing the types of activities in which they engage, frequency of involvement, reasons for gambling, and their cognitive perceptions of gambling activities. The results indicate that, in general, 80.2% of students reported having gambled during the previous year, with 35.1% gambling a minimum of once per week. Adolescents reported participating in gambling behavior more often than any other addictive behavior, including cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use. The mean age of onset of gambling behavior for the sample was 11.5 years. The rate of pathological gambling was 4.7% as measured by the DSM-IV-J. Pathological gamblers were more likely to have parents with gambling problems and to be engaging in illegal activities than non-pathological gamblers. Gender differences were evident, with males engaging in gambling activities more than females. Differences in game preferences were found, with males more attracted to sports lottery tickets and sports pool betting and females more attracted to lottery tickets and bingo. Gambling awareness and prevention issues are addressed.     

Voluntary Limit Setting and Player Choice in Most Intense Online Gamblers: An Empirical Study of Gambling Behaviour

Social responsibility in gambling has become a major issue for the gaming industry. The possibility for online gamblers to set voluntary time and money limits are a social responsibility practice that is now widespread among online gaming operators. The main issue concerns whether the voluntary setting of such limits has any positive impact on subsequent gambling behaviour and whether such measures are of help to problem gamblers. In this paper, this issue is examined through data collected from a representative random sample of 100,000 players who gambled on the win2day gambling website. When opening an account at the win2day site, there is a mandatory requirement for all players to set time and cash-in limits (that cannot exceed 800 € per week). During a 3-month period, all voluntary time and/or money limit setting behaviour by a subsample of online gamblers (n = 5,000) within this mandatory framework was tracked and recorded for subsequent data analysis. From the 5,000 gamblers, the 10 % most intense players (as measured by theoretical loss) were further investigated. Voluntary spending limits had the highest significant effect on subsequent monetary spending among casino and lottery gamblers. Monetary spending among poker players significantly decreased after setting a voluntary time limit. The highest significant decrease in playing duration was among poker players after setting a voluntary playing duration limit. The results of the study demonstrated that voluntary limit setting had a specific and significant effect on the studied gamblers. Therefore, voluntary limits appear to show an appropriate effect in the desired target group (i.e., the most gaming intense players).