Journal of Gambling Issues- Issue 11

Abstract: This exploratory study examines the manifestation of two experiential variables in undergraduate university students who gamble. The study had 829 participants (270 males and 559 females). They completed self-report questionnaires on gambling-related problems (the South Oaks Gambling Screen), loneliness (the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults), and overall life satisfaction (the Satisfaction with Life Scale). Based on their scores on the South Oaks Gambling Screen, participants were divided into two groups: recreational gamblers and at- risk gamblers. Male participants were much more likely to be at-risk gamblers than female participants. Compared to female recreational gamblers, female at-risk gamblers were found to be less satisfied with their lives and lonelier, especially in the romantic and social realms. Male recreational and at-risk gamblers did not differ significantly on these factors. Results support the views that the internal experience of female at-risk gamblers differs from that of their male counterparts, and that loneliness is best considered as a multidimensional construct.

File: James-Porter et al.

DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2004.11.13

Title: How do slot machines and other electronic gambling machines actually work?

Issue: 11

Authors: Nigel Turner & Roger Horbay

Abstract: Slot machines and other electronic gambling machines (EGMs) are gambling devices that offer a variety of games. They are inexpensive to run, which makes it possible for casinos to offer low-stakes betting to a large number of customers. As a result, they have become the most profitable form of gambling. EGMs are found at casinos, on cruise boats, at racetracks, at local bars, and even at corner stores. Slot machines and other EGMs seem to attract a lot of myths. This is partly because of a lack of accurate information on how the machines work and partly due to the design of the machines. In this paper, we will discuss how slot machines really work. Our goal is to demystify the machines in order to demystify the games. We will also discuss some of the myths about slot machines. This paper is intended to serve as a resource for counsellors and prevention workers in the field of problem gambling. It is also intended for people in the general public who wish to understand slot machines.

File: Nigel-Turner-Roger-Horbay

DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2004.11.21

Title: How do we know what we know? Epistemic tensions in social and cultural research on gambling 1980-2000

Issue: 11

Author: Virginia M. McGowan

Abstract: This project seeks to answer the question, how do we know what we know about gambling? With reference to a systematic review of the gambling research literature that addresses social and cultural topics and issues, this paper explores the epistemic cultures that created and gave authority to knowledge about gambling presented in scholarly research published between 1980 and 2000. From small beginnings in the 1980s, scholarly research in this area exploded during the 1990s and was dominated by surveys describing the distribution of problem and pathological forms. The trend in gambling research is towards an increasingly narrow range of topics, focused on pathology, and curiously disengaged from advances in contemporary social theory. The paper concludes with a plea for nuanced, politically engaged, and culturally informed gambling research grounded in the social, cultural, historical, and everyday contexts in which gambling is embedded.

File: Virginia-M.-McGowan

DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2004.11.11

Advice

Title: Gambling on the Internet: Some practical advice

Issue: 11

Authors: Mark Griffiths & Jonathan Parke

File: Mark-Griffiths-Jonathan-Parke

DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2004.11.6

Policy Article

Title: Minimising the impact of gambling in the subtle degradation of democratic systems

Issue: 11

Author: Peter James Adams

Abstract: Gambling can harm a society’s social and economic systems and negatively affect its political ecology. If not protected, democratic processes and institutions in jurisdictions with high levels of gambling are likely to undergo a progressive, cumulative degradation of function. These subtle, diffuse distortions result when a broad variety of individuals, working in isolation and reacting to pressures from gambling providers, incrementally compromise their roles and responsibilities. This article examines how these degradations can occur for people working in universities, government departments, media outlets, politics, and community organisations. It argues that any strategy to minimise harm from gambling should include explicit measures to protect the public from such distortions to democratic processes. The single most effective way to do this is to independently monitor people with public duties who have relationships to the beneficiaries of gambling consumption. The article concludes by proposing an international charter that sets benchmark standards for protecting a society from such degradations.

File: Peter-James-Adams

DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2004.11.2

Opinion Peace

Title: Rolling the dice on casinos in Florida: Will residents view legalized casino gaming as a cure for a financial crisis?

Issue: 11

Authors: Peter Ricci, Dana V. Tesone, & Po-Ju Chen

Abstract: This article considers the viability of casino gaming as one potential solution for Florida’s current lackluster financial condition, due to declines in tourism revenues and increased education costs. The article suggests that similar conditions have motivated voters to set aside personal disdain for legalized forms of gambling in the interest of financial gains. It concludes with the next logical step of condoning casino gaming as a means to solve current budgetary woes and considers potential research to predict such an event.

File: Ricci et al.

DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2004.11.17

Title: Why don’t adolescents turn up for gambling treatment (revisited)?

Issue: 11

Author: Serge & Chevalier

Abstract: In a previous issue of the Electronic Journal of Gambling Issues, Griffiths (2001) raised 10 speculative reasons as to why so few adolescents enrol for treatment programs when compared with adults. This paper explores the issue a little further with another 11 possible reasons. These are (i) adolescents don’t seek treatment in general; (ii) adolescents may seek other forms of treatment, but gambling problems are less likely to be seen as requiring intervention; (iii) treating other underlying problems may help adolescent gambling problems; (iv) a dolescent gambling ‘bail-outs’ can mask gambling problems; (v) a ttending treatment programs may be stigmatising for adolescents; (vi) adolescents may commit suicide before getting treatment; (vii) a dolescent gamblers may be lying or distorting the truth when they fill out survey questionnaires; (viii) a dolescents may not understand what they are asked in questionnaires; (ix) screening instruments for adolescent problem gambling are being used incorrectly; (x) adolescent gambling may be socially constructed to be nonproblematic; and (xi) adolescent excesses may change too quickly to warrant treatment.

File: Serge-Chevalier-Mark-Griffiths

DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2004.11.4

First Person Accounts

Title: A First Nations hand game: Gambling from supernatural power

Issue: 11

Author: Phil Lange

File: Phil-Lange

DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2004.11.10