Session Title

Session 1-1-B: Responsible Gambling Messaging and Discourse

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation

Location

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

Start Date

23-5-2023 10:15 AM

End Date

23-5-2023 11:45 AM

Disciplines

Social Justice | Social Work

Abstract

The responsible gambling approach is the subject of significant debate in the scientific community due to its tendency to individualize responsibility, focusing most heavily on gambler’s responsibility for gambling-related harm. In the meantime, studies have showed that young adult gamble at a higher rate than the general adult population. They are now more than ever susceptible to being drawn in to gambling due to the availability of online gambling. In this context, this study aims to explore the social representations of the concept of responsibility held by young adult gamblers. How do they 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? The results reveal that the social representations of responsibility held by young adult gamblers fit into five categories rooted in an individual perspective of responsibility: self control, knowing the rules and making the right decision, enjoying the game, not becoming an addict, and preventing harms related to gambling. These results shed a light on how young adult gamblers internalized a discourse about responsibility that is situated at the intersection of a responsible gambling approach and neoliberal ideology.

So what? The multiplicity of the involved actors in the gambling landscape requires an equitable sharing of responsibility between different stakeholders. Individual persons cannot solely bear the consequences of a social problem and the scientific community have an important role in pushing for this change to happen.

Keywords

Responsibility, young adults, social representations, responsible gambling

Author Bios

Annie-Claude Savard is associate professor in the School of Social Work and Criminology at Laval University. Her work delves into a critical study on gambling, focuses on the social construction of individual and collective responsibility, analyzes discourses in advertising and prevention messages and examines the medicalization of issues related to gambling.

Jean-Philippe Laforge is a Master’s student in Sociology at Concordia University. His research interests focus on everyday life, time and gaming. He is a research assistant in the gambling field since 2019.

Mélina Bouffard is a Doctoral Candidate in Sociology at Laval University and professor of sociology at Centre d’études collégiales de Montmagny. She works with Dre Savard as the coordinator of research projects in the gambling field since 2018.

Sylvia Kairouz is a full professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. She published extensively in sociology, social epidemiology and public health journals. She is currently engaged in funded research examining social inequality in gambling, social responsibility and governance. She holds an FQRSC research chair on the study of gambling and is the head of the Lifestyle and Addiction Research Lab at Concordia University.

Funding Sources

This study has been funded by the Fonds Québecois de Recherche – Société Culture (FRQ-SC) in collaboration with La Fondation Mise-sur-toi.

Competing Interests

All the authors declare having no conflict of interest.

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May 23rd, 10:15 AM May 23rd, 11:45 AM

How does the responsible gambling discourse shape the mind of young adult gamblers?

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

The responsible gambling approach is the subject of significant debate in the scientific community due to its tendency to individualize responsibility, focusing most heavily on gambler’s responsibility for gambling-related harm. In the meantime, studies have showed that young adult gamble at a higher rate than the general adult population. They are now more than ever susceptible to being drawn in to gambling due to the availability of online gambling. In this context, this study aims to explore the social representations of the concept of responsibility held by young adult gamblers. How do they 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? The results reveal that the social representations of responsibility held by young adult gamblers fit into five categories rooted in an individual perspective of responsibility: self control, knowing the rules and making the right decision, enjoying the game, not becoming an addict, and preventing harms related to gambling. These results shed a light on how young adult gamblers internalized a discourse about responsibility that is situated at the intersection of a responsible gambling approach and neoliberal ideology.

So what? The multiplicity of the involved actors in the gambling landscape requires an equitable sharing of responsibility between different stakeholders. Individual persons cannot solely bear the consequences of a social problem and the scientific community have an important role in pushing for this change to happen.