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Blackjack in the Kitchen: Understanding Online versus Casino Gambling

February 2009
Journal of Consumer Research 35(5):742-758

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Western University

About $10 billion a year is spent by consumers worldwide on online gambling, and that number continues to grow. We present a qualitative, image-based study of 30 Las Vegas online and casino gamblers. By examining online gambling as a consumption experience, we examine what happens to consumption meaning as gambling moves away from a regulated physical space to an unregulated online space, one accessed from home. We explore the meaning of online gambling consumption to consumers and flesh out the social welfare implications of our findings. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

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Blackjack in the Kitchen:

Understanding Online Versus Casino Gambling

JUNE COTTE

KATHRYN A. LATOUR*

June Cotte is the George and Mary Turnbull Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of

Marketing at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, 1151

Richmond St. London, ON, N6A 3K7. Phone: 519-661-3224. Email: jcotte@ivey.ca. Kathryn A.

LaTour is Associate Professor at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89145, Email:

kathryn.latour@unlv.edu. This research was funded by a grant to the second author from the

Harrah College of Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada. Please address all

correspondence to June Cotte at the address shown. The authors thank Remi Trudel, Jenni

Denniston, Mark Lee and Veronika Papyrina for research assistance. They would also like to

thank Linda Price, Hope Schau, Glenn Christensen, and participants at the 2007 Consumer

Culture Theory conference for challenging our thinking along the way. Finally, we greatly

appreciate Robin Coulter‘s valuable feedback throughout this project.

Abstract

About $10 billion a year is spent by consumers worldwide on online gambling, and that number

continues to grow. We present a qualitative, image-based study of thirty Las Vegas online and

casino gamblers. By examining online gambling as a consumption experience, we examine what

happens to consumption meaning as gambling moves away from a regulated physical space to an

unregulated online space, accessed from home. We explore the meaning of online gambling

consumption to consumers, and flesh out the social welfare implications of our findings.

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Gambling, in various forms, exists within most human societies (Schwarz, D. 2006).

There has been massive growth in consumer spending on casino gambling over the past few

decades. A study conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2006 predicted that global gambling

revenue would rise by 8.8% annually from $82.2 billion in 2005 to approximately $125 billion

by the end of the decade (Associated Press 2006). From 1992-2003, the U.S. casino industry saw

its revenue more than double, from $10 billion to over $27 billion; consumers spent more money

in casinos than they spent on movies or theme parks (American Gaming Association 2004).

As consumption of gambling has grown, so too, have concerns about the negative

personal and societal outcomes of gambling, including pathological addiction and financial

difficulties. Most concerns, and virtually all empirical research, have addressed the public

consumption of gambling, mainly in casinos, but also in public spaces like betting shops.

However, gambling is changing. There has been an increase in online gambling, with the

concomitant movement of gambling into the home. Recent estimates of online gambling

revenues range from $10 to $12 billion yearly (Schwartz, M. 2006).

Although there is scant data, researchers have speculated that compared to casino

gambling, the risk for addiction to online gambling is higher for several reasons. The software

increases the speed of play, and the technology is now affordable, anonymous, and readily

accessible (Griffiths 2002). Money wagered is often drawn from an online account, making it

less likely players notice when it is running low, and online gamblers tend to play alone, without

friends looking out for them (Smith 2004). There are also models of consumer addiction (e.g.,

Hirschman 1992, O‘Guinn and Faber 1989) which parallel the study of compulsive gambling

(Griffiths 2002). For instance, research shows there might be biological aspects leading to

gambling addiction (such as a history of depression), psychological aspects leading to gambling

addiction (e.g., low self esteem) and social aspects leading to gambling addiction (gambling

being a positive reinforcement, replacing social circles) (Shaffer and Kidman 2003).

In our research we examine online gambling, contrasted with casino gambling. The

theoretical significance of our research is our focus on differential meanings for the focal

construct gambling. That is, studies of other consumption activities that are now available online

do not assume that the construct‘s meaning changes because it is done at home. We argue herein

that although some experiential consumption can be done at home, it becomes a different

consumption experience when it is done at home. Our work extends theory and research because

we examine the well studied phenomenon of casino gambling, and challenge the idea that

theories developed to explain that phenomenon can be applied in the online gambling realm.

Reviewing the literature, we concluded that researchers do not yet know answers to the

following questions: How do gamblers experience online gambling? What does online gambling

feel like, and how is it perceived? What happens to the experience of gambling when it moves

online and becomes more private? And finally, what does that information tell us about the

consumer welfare implications of this growing practice? A priori, we take no strong moralizing

tone: the movement of gambling into the home may have consumer welfare-related advantages

for some consumers (e.g., no worry of being robbed in a casino parking lot after a big win),

whereas for others the effects may be more pernicious (e.g., children seeing gambling at home).

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We begin with an examination of gambling as consumption, noting the omission of

studies dealing with how consumers experience online gambling. We then present a qualitative

study of thirty local Las Vegas gamblers, a sample whose readily available daily access to all

forms of gambling allows us to compare and contrast online gambling to casino gambling. Using

interviews centered on visual images, we study online gambling and casino gambling, and

juxtapose the two. We highlight the consumer welfare implications of our findings, and conclude

with suggestions for further research.

PRIOR PERSPECTIVES ON GAMBLING CONSUMPTION

Researchers from sociology (Zola 1963), psychology (Walker 1992), economics (Grinols

2004), and leisure studies have examined gambling and how it relates to their disciplines.

Researchers have studied the underlying motivations for gambling behavior; many have

attempted to create a gambling theory and/or descriptions of gamblers. Although the gambling

literature is vast, we briefly encapsulate the prior research on casino gambling before moving to

the relatively scant literature on online gambling.

Casino Gambling

The term casino originally referred to a public hall for music and dancing, but by the

second half of the 19th century the term began to refer to a collection of gambling rooms, mainly

on the Western frontier. The history of gambling in the United States includes periodic bouts of

opposition on moral or religious grounds. Gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931 as a means

of luring tourists to the Hoover Dam. Las Vegas initially attracted, and was funded by, organized

crime. In the 1950‘s it was the government who opposed casino gambling. Things have changed:

resort casinos are regulated, often funded by Wall Street, and have very little resemblance to the

tavern-style roadhouses of the past, which primarily offered dice and card games. Casino

gambling is now legal in all but two U.S. states, and the mega resorts of Las Vegas also offer

high-end dining, shopping, and entertainment as supplements to gambling.

Cotte (1997) categorized gambling motives into three general groups: economic,

symbolic, and hedonic. With regard to the former, researchers have theorized that gamblers are

in it for the money, that economic motives are primary for many gamblers (e.g., Fisher 1993).

Others suggest that money simply makes the gambling more important, risky, and involving

(Herman 1976). Gambling also may confer a symbolic sense of control for those in society who

lack control (usually defined as lower socio-economic status groups) (Zola 1963). In addition,

performing under pressure at a casino can be interpreted as a symbolic gesture of risk-taking

(Cotte 1997). Researchers have also interpreted gambling as self-esteem enhancement, allowing

gamblers to create a more favorable, fantasy-based self-image (Loroz 2004).

We suspected that not all of the established theories about casino gambling (particularly

concerning its meanings) would hold for at-home gambling. After all, the prior research on

gambling focused on public, corporeal consumption of these games. Conceptually, there are

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reasons to believe these theories will not hold, primarily because of the elemental differences

between online and real-world interactions and communication.

What researchers know is that online communication differs from face-to-face

communication (Flaherty, Pearce, and Rubin 1998; McKenna and Bargh 2000), partly because it

is impossible in online communication to properly transmit social context cues such as nonverbal

behavior (Sproull and Kiesler 1986). While a lack of social cues has been shown to result in

uninhibited or anti-social behavior, it might also lead to status equalization, since interpersonal

status information can be left out (Sproull and Kiesler 1986; Straus 1997). Indeed, researchers

have argued that we do not yet know how, or if, social norms work in the online social

environment (Mantovani 2001; Spears and Lea 1992). We do know that the anonymity possible

during online interactions can have both positive and negative effects on behavior (Moon 2000;

Schau and Gilly 2003). So it is relatively clear that at-home, online interactions may be very

different from casino gambling. And the social science community simply does not know very

much about the consumption experience of online gambling and how it differs as a consumption

experience. What we do know, we review below.

Online Gambling Consumption

In 1994 the Antiguan government passed a law that allowed online casinos to be

established within its borders. Intercasino was the first online casino to accept real money

wagers, and their revenue reports sparked great interest. The growth of online gambling has been

significant, but because of the nature of play, and the fact that online betting is technically

illegal, or in legal limbo, in Canada and the United States, tracking the exact number of players,

revenues and wagers is difficult. Although estimates vary, the amount of money spent on online

gambling is massive, about $7.5 billion in 2004 (Stutz 2005). Growth can occur quickly because

online gambling sites do not have to pay for the many expenses casinos do, including free

alcoholic beverages and other perks for players, property taxes, and employees. As a result,

online profit margins can be as high as 60% (Schwartz, M. 2006). Most casino games are

available online, as are virtual slot machines. Table games like roulette, blackjack, and craps are

all available online, but the most popular game online seems to be poker. The number of poker

sites on the Internet grew from 30 in 2002 to over 400 in 2006 (Schwartz, M. 2006). Websites

are getting increasingly sophisticated in their look and feel, and many offer sounds of chips

hitting a table, roulette wheels spinning, or cards being dealt. An online player can experience

real-time chat with other players, and choose virtual tables based on who is playing there.

Much of what we know about online gamblers is primarily descriptive in nature. At least

one study has examined the increased tendency for Internet-based gambling to become addictive

(King and Barak 1999), and online gamblers are more likely to be clinically problematic or

pathological gamblers than casino gamblers (Ladd and Petry 2002). Internet gamblers are less

educated than the Internet population as a whole; women outnumber men; web users making less

than $25,000/year are about eleven percent of the Internet population, but fifteen percent of the

users of online gambling; and the average online gambler is younger than the average Internet

user (Ladd and Petry 2002; Woodruff and Gregory 2005). In a recent survey, ten percent of

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survey respondents who gamble online did so for the first time before they were ten, often paid

for by a family member (Derevensky and Gupta 2007). In sum, the extant research is mainly a

collection of survey-based demographic studies, or objective assessments of technological

differences, with extrapolations of possible implications for addiction. But none of these

researchers focus on the meaning of online gambling to participants, to which we now turn.

RESEARCH METHOD AND ANALYSIS

Method

The authors conducted thirty interviews with local Las Vegas, Nevada gamblers using

depth interviews with visual images, and ultimately collages, that participants create (Zaltman

1997; Zaltman and Coulter 1995). This method, using pictures to probe for an individual‘s

metaphorical thinking about a subject, is based on the premise that all thoughts are image-based

(Damasio 1994). Focused on unearthing the content of an individual‘s mind, this method

assumes that much of this content is non-conscious and based in images, not words (Zaltman

1997, Zaltman and Coulter 1995). When contacted initially by phone, about one week ahead of

the interview, participants were asked to come to the interview with five to eight images of what

―gambling means to you.‖ Images that the participants brought in were from magazines,

newspapers, and in some cases from their personal photo albums or scrapbooks.

The interview technique we used helps interviewers delve into the metaphors that

participants use to represent the meanings of gambling, either explicitly to others, or implicitly to

themselves (Coulter and Zaltman 2000; Lakoff and Johnson 1980). To elicit metaphorical

language, we included projective techniques and sensory probes, and organized interviews

around the participants‘ images. This array of techniques surfaces more than simple cognitions,

but also includes emotions, attitudes, goals, values, and the sensory aspects of gambling

(Christensen and Olson 2002). One main difference between this image-based interview and

phenomenological interviews is that we begin with higher order constructs conveyed through the

metaphors and images, and proceed to particular experiences. Phenomenological interviews

generally elicit experiences, and interpret meanings and etic constructs from those particulars.

We first asked participants to tell us their stories about the images they collected. Next,

we probed for missing images, pictures they would have liked to bring but could not find.

Participants were encouraged to talk about how the images are different or similar, and we

probed for higher-level constructs that participants were using to discuss what gambling means

to them. The images they brought, or wanted to find, were the focus of most of our probing. We

probed up, such as ―how/what does gambling add to your life?‖ as well as probing down, such as

―what particular experience lead to that?‖ Sensory data was collected next, where participants

talk about the sense aspects of gambling, including sounds and smells that allow further sensory

probing (e.g., ―What does gambling sound like?‖). Another projective technique we used was to

have participants describe the personalities of slot machine gamblers, casino table gamblers, and

online gamblers, and describe what these three personalities might be like, and how they may

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interact with one another. Finally, participants created a summary image by aligning their

pictures on a background, discussing as they did so why certain images were given preeminence.

The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Some portions of these

interviews, especially when participants were arranging the visual stimuli they selected, were

also video-taped. The data include 900 pages of verbatim transcribed interview texts, and 150

images, with videos of portions of some of the interviews. We paid each participant $100.

Sample

We advertised in a local newspaper for self-defined regular gamblers. The two authors

conducted thirty interviews: ten with online gamblers and twenty with casino gamblers. We

recruited both casino chance game players (e.g., slots) and casino skill game players (e.g., poker)

deliberately, to maximize the variation in types of gamblers we spoke with. Although a couple of

the online gamblers had tried online slot machine games, the online gamblers mainly played skill

games like poker and blackjack online, while the casino sample group includes both slot machine

players and skill game players. While there are overlaps - for example, a woman who gambles on

the Internet from home everyday may take out-of-town guests to a major Las Vegas Strip casino

- our sample participants were easily able to label themselves as predominately casino or online

gamblers, and we allowed them to so self-classify. Sampling in Las Vegas allowed us to find a

theoretically interesting group; in our sample gamblers who now are primarily online gamblers

were once casino gamblers. Thus, we can examine the differences between online gambling and

casino gambling among those who have shifted their consumption from one to the other.

All participants were regular gamblers, by their own definition, although the frequencies

of gambling consumption varied dramatically, from every day to once a month. We used

purposeful sampling, and tried to interview gamblers who spent 90% or more of their time

gambling on one of the two types of gambling we were interested in: casino or online gambling.

This was mainly a successful recruitment strategy, although some online gamblers still

occasionally visited a casino, as discussed above. None of the participants self-defined

themselves as professional or problem/addicted gamblers, although as one can observe from

Table 1, gambling consumption is a major part of most participants‘ lives. The ages of the

participants ranged from 23 to 77. One characteristic is apparent in table 1: participants who

were mainly online gamblers self-reported spending more time gambling than casino gamblers.

INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE

Analysis

Our approach to the data is grounded in the procedures for rigorous interpretive analysis,

including individual analysis, lots of iterations, and part-to-whole comparisons (Spiggle 1994;

Thompson 1997; Thompson, Locander and Pollio 1990). Both authors individually analyzed the

mass of data, both text and images. We discussed emerging interpretations, challenged each

other, and ultimately jointly created the interpretations. We strove to present both the experience

of gambling as it is lived by our participants, as they see it, but also to inject some of the reality

of the social consequences of their choices and behaviors. That is, we openly state that our voice

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(the voice of the researchers) is here; our analysis does make some etic level comments on the

emic words of our participants. As an example, if a participant focuses solely on the benefits of

gambling, we may make note of some obvious disadvantages we see for that participant. When

we do this, we believe the shift from the emic level to the etic level is clear in our description.

FINDINGS

In our presentation, we will move from consumer reactions to the contextual differences

between online and casino gambling to a discussion of the change in meaning as gambling

moves from the casino into the home. We begin with reactions to contextual differences between

in-home and casino gambling: perceptions, feelings, and experiences, primarily presented as

thick, emic level descriptions of various recalled experiences (as in Samantha‘s case study in

Thompson et al. 1990). After this section, we build up three thematic dimensions that allow us to

clearly outline the meaning changes that occur as gambling moves from the casino to the home.

Consumer Reactions to Contextual Differences: Casino Versus Online Gambling

Perceptions. One important way in which online and casino gambling differ is how the

context is perceived by gamblers. Two major differences are perceptions of social connectedness

and perceptions of anonymity. First, we address social connectedness. For casino gamblers,

gambling provides a perceived social connection with unknown others, the public, in a sense of

shared fates and temporary community. Online gamblers, on the contrary, perceive a lack of

social connections in the online realm. As we will discuss, these perceptual differences are seen

by each group as positive aspects of their chosen gambling form.

Casino gamblers were rather negative regarding online gambling, primarily because they

perceive a lack of desired social interaction. The importance of social connection to casino

gamblers becomes clear as they describe online gambling. Alexandra was perhaps the most

negative in her description, and her perception of online gambling‘s lack of social connection:

I picture somebody that‟s smelly and stinky and hasn‟t taken a shower in a week and

blah, nasty. Probably like some IT computer nerd, geek guy that can work out of his

house. (Alexandra, 27, casino)

Some of the casino gamblers had tried gambling online but decided it was not for them;

gambling was something to be done socially, in the casino.

…and just being around the people… and it‟s just not the same at home. Sitting in your

underwear and…no, no, in your pajamas with your bunny slippers on, and it‟s just not

the same. (Melanie, 37, casino).

Casino gamblers perceive online gambling as bereft of social connections, which was

pivotal to the enjoyment of gambling for them. The online gamblers also perceive this lack of

social connectedness in virtual gambling. But for them, this aspect is positive; it is one crucial

reason the online gamblers gave for their choice to gamble at home. They choose the online

environment because of the lack of social connections. Clearly, Jessica avoids connections:

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Online, you don't have to put up with these people. …in a land casino, the main interest is

not, I don't think it's the gambling; it's the people around you. [online] you can be as

anti-social as you want to be because there's nobody to talk to there anyway. And to be

perfectly honest, people bug me a lot. I just, sometimes people get on my nerves so bad.

Uh, and I don't have to put up with that online. (Jessica, 54, online)

In Jessica‘s summary image there are few people, and those people pictured are by themselves.

Brittany, another online gambler, chose a picture of random people to describe what she avoided

when she was online (see figure 1). Although Jessica rarely goes to a casino, when speaking

about the occasions when she does, we can see that despite her anti-social, anti-casino view,

there is still a social connection need not met for her in the online environment:

I go there [casino] not expecting to win anything. I go there mainly just for a need to feel

in contact. And sometimes you just have to have that human contact. (Jessica, 54, online)

Clearly, gamblers perceive social connectedness as an important difference: the casino is a social

connectedness site, while online websites are largely devoid of social connectedness.

INSERT FIGURE 1 ABOUT HERE

A second important perceptual difference between the online and casino gambling

contexts is perceptions of anonymity. Online gamblers report that a benefit of online gambling is

its anonymity. Interestingly, when asked to describe the personalities of casino gamblers, most

online gamblers had a clear image in their mind. A casino slot machine player was seen as older

female, overweight, and needy. A casino table game gambler was described as male and

outgoing. But when asked to describe other online gamblers, online gamblers themselves could

not say anything concrete:

… faceless, can‟t give a personality description… never see them (Jessica, 54, online)

You don‟t know those people. So they‟re just a name, an ID (Manny, 77, online)

They don‟t give out too much information on people that you‟re playing with… don‟t get

to see who that person is, how they act… (Brittany, 23, online)

Because players can disguise almost every aspect of their true identity, they can create a

new identity, gender, age, or any other aspect of an entirely new persona, as can all the other

players. One benefit of this perception of anonymity is that online players often think about the

nameless others online in ways that fit the player‘s own desires. Donna looks at the icons and

imagines the exotic locales of the players she is playing against. Mike assumes or pretends the

players online are just like himself, and that he is playing with comrades. The ability to pretend

to be someone else online influences more than just the avatar chosen, and extends to the type of

behavior these gamblers describe. Online gamblers perceive no such anonymity in a casino, and

report they gamble differently there as a result. Danny, an online poker player, says he plays

much more aggressively online than in the casino. Brittany, whose favorite online game is poker,

is afraid to play poker at a casino as she is not confident enough without the perception of

anonymity she perceives online.

The perceived anonymity of the online environment equalizes gamblers, so that low

rollers and high rollers are treated equally. In contrast, in a casino more experienced gamblers

who bet larger amounts are treated specially, and some gamblers go to the casino seeking such

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ego gratification. Greg is a casino table gambler who defines himself by his gambling prowess

and has a need for social recognition that only the casino environment can provide:

And I don't think there's anybody that can beat me. …So that I know what I'm doing. And

that's the challenge. I just love being able to walk out of there and say, "I'm better than

you guys." 'Cause gambling to me just reinforces my whole life. It's, it's something I have

to win at. I have to be good at what I do and I've proved to other people I can do it. And

proved to the world. (Greg, 57, casino)

For Greg, and several other casino gamblers, the perceived social visibility in the casino is

important to his experience and could not be replaced by a perception of anonymity online.

Feelings. A second difference between casino and online gambling is the extent of

feelings and emotions each engenders. Online gambling is simply not as vividly experienced as

is casino gambling. Our data shows the casino experience still continues to be demarcated from

the routine by heightened expectation, preparation, and anticipatory excitement; these result in

high arousal emotions like exhilaration and celebration. But while occasionally an online player

might feel excited (by winning a poker tournament, for instance), the home environment results

in a more mundane experience that feels comfortable and safe.

In terms of feelings, casino (but not online) gambling looks very much like the cycle of

consumer desire outlined by Belk, Ger and Askegaard (2003). This cycle of desire begins with

self-seductive imagination and active cultivation of desire, followed by the acquisition of the

desire, followed by wanting to return and re-experience the object of desire (Belk et al. 2003).

First, there is an anticipatory phase, followed by ideally winning/celebrating, and then the

reformulation of desire, the hope of winning more in the future. As Tim discusses his summary

image (see figure 2) he explains:

A picture here of a football player getting fired up for the big game, you know his

anticipation is giving him an adrenalin rush. That‟s me before the casino. This guy

jumping up and down in the air, you know. He‟s excited… it‟s exciting you know, being

inside the casino with the bells and whistles and chips flying in the air. And then ideally

at the end of the day maybe you won a lot of money and this is you celebrating your win

which is another adrenalin rush and then [after] this is me relaxing in a Sports Book, just

enjoying my time with my friends. (Tim, 22, online)

INSERT FIGURE 2 ABOUT HERE

This intense and ongoing cycle is what helps casino gamblers re-ignite their desire. In

contrast, our data suggest that online gamblers do not go through the same level of emotional

preparation as they get themselves ready to play online. That is, they do not ignite a major ―fire

of desire‖ like the casino participants do. We believe this difference contributes to a muted

reaction to the outcomes of online gambling. Indeed, rather than discussing online gambling in

highly charged emotional language, online participants describe it in rather mundane ways,

likening the feeling to other passive behaviors, as Jessica does:

You have a longer period of time there that you don't sit around watching the same old

TV shows or reading the same old books. It's just a diversion. [later] You can't get too

excited about winning something, but you can't get too excited about losing something

either. (Jessica, 54, online)

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Online gamblers are more detached during online gambling consumption; they do not experience

the intense highs and lows as they did (or others do) in the casino. In fact, several participants

found the casino environment too exciting, like a rollercoaster:

I‟m getting more hyped up [in a casino]… Cause it is just up and down, up and down.

(Jim, 55, online)

The rollercoaster metaphor is interesting as it implies a physicality to the casino

experience, whereby the environmental stimulation leads to highs and lows that can take one‘s

breath away. Danny, an online gambler who also occasionally plays in the casinos, mentioned

feeling exhilaration when casino gambling. But after describing the exhilarating feeling of

winning, when asked how often he feels that when gambling online, he reflected and replied ―not

very often.‖ Later, he admits that most of the time while he is online he does not feel much:

So then you are sort of neutral. You don‟t have much to be real elated about, but you

don‟t have much to be disappointed about and if, and you‟re sorta just floating around

the middle (Danny, 54, online)

Another online gambler, Mike, also admitted he got a little bored online; he looked at the

images he brought in and said ―nothing looks very exciting here.‖ (See his collage, figure 3,

where he chose the sunset image to represent the serenity he feels online). He gets a more intense

feeling when he is either winning or losing big, but most of the time he is ―in the middle‖:

There‟s no frustration. You win some, you‟re losing some. It‟s very boring… I tend to

play longer when I‟m either way ahead or way behind. (Mike, 55, online)

INSERT FIGURE 3 ABOUT HERE

Indeed, a sort of calm complacency appears to settle on online gamblers. Manny mentions that

he is more alert in the casino, but online he is more laid back:

You can gamble (online), and, and, you know, it‟s a pastime…versus in the casino there

is no such thing…so you gotta be on your toes more. (Manny, 77, online)

In addition to feeling less online than in the casino, our online players also reported

feeling different emotions, such as safety and comfort, due to being in their own home. Donna

feels safer at home ―because of all the freaks out there.‖ Brittany feels safer winning online than

in the casino because she doesn‘t have to worry about someone following her back to her car and

robbing her. Jessica notes how being at home allows her to feel comfortable and relaxed. Several

others noted that they are often in their pajamas when they are gambling online.

Much better at my home because I can sit in my pajamas and cuddle up on my chair and

just shut out everything around me. (Jessica, 54, online)

The comfortable style of gambling that results from feeling relaxed, and playing in one‘s

pajamas, appears to circumvent the heightened self-awareness and self-monitoring that casino

gambling appears to create. In fact, when casino gamblers were asked to describe online

gamblers, several negatively suggested that they ―pictured them in their dirty pajamas‖ as if that

were an inappropriate uniform for gambling.

Sensory Experiences. Another difference between the online gambling and casino

gambling contexts is sensory experiences, and in particular haptic (touch) stimulation. Although

online gambling websites have added sounds of casino gambling, including cards shuffling,

wheels spinning, and chips hitting the table, most online gamblers report that online gambling

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lacks the sensory stimulation they get in the casino. Our online gamblers have either the TV or

the radio on for background noise and are in the same context in which they conduct their home

activities. As casino gambler Herb remarked about the online gambling environment:

Okay, because the only thing that changes when I gamble online is my computer screen.

Everything else in my office stays exactly the same. Whereas when I go (casino)

gambling, there‟s always something, whether it‟s even a peculiar person or just, you

know, all the different things that are buzzing and blinging. (Herb, 42, casino)

There is a lack of smells (which is generally positive, as casino smells are inevitably

negative, because of smoking), a lack of sights (people, lights) and a lack of touch. The touch

stimulation can be further unpacked into touching the accoutrements of gambling (chips, money,

cards) and the touch of other people. While the latter is related to social connection, it is also a

unusual sensory phenomenon.

Sometimes the floor people will come up and touch me, or ask how you doing? Put their

hand on my shoulders, rub my shoulders for good luck. You ask them for change, you

know, they‟ll rub it on them or just for good luck. That‟s the silly things that they do but

that‟s what makes me feel rich, it makes me feel good. (Lorraine, 35, casino)

This feeling good, as a result of being touched by the casino employee, is consistent with

Hornik (1992) where customers felt better about the establishment and employees if they were

touched unobtrusively. In addition to being touched by people, there is the sense of touch evoked

by physically handling the chips and the money. Both Cleo and Tim identify this difference

between casino and online gambling.

[Online] I‟m not physically handling the chips, which, I mean handling the chips that,

that‟s money and that, like when I‟m playing Blackjack that‟s a very nice sensation, to

fondle the chips. (Cleo, 50, online)

It‟s not the same [online], they‟re counting out a hundred or a thousand dollars in front

of your face. That‟s a little more exciting.. I won like a thousand dollar tournament. And I

mean it‟s digital so it‟s like, it‟s not, no it‟s not the same. (Tim, 22, online)

Having explored the perceptions, feelings, and senses resulting from the differing

contexts of traditional and online casinos, we now move to a discussion of the changes in the

meaning of gambling as it moves into the home. We present this discussion organized around

three main dimensions of meaning. These are more abstract, etic level interpretations gleaned

from our within and across-participant analysis, and they build on the contextual differences

between online and traditional casinos.

The Meaning of Gambling as It Moves Into the Home

From Out of Control to In Control. By control we imply the need for control over one‘s

life and environment. Our data suggests that casino gamblers appear to relish being out of

control, while the online gamblers we spoke to believe they have more control over their

gambling outcomes. Belinda, one of our casino gamblers, describes her life outside of gambling

as very structured and ordered, and she relishes giving up control to chance while in the casino:

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I take things very seriously. I‟m a thinker. I analyze things… [In my life] I‟m always in

control. Always in control. I get a little bit more out of control when I‟m playing in the

casino. And I kind of like that out of control feeling. I kind of like to not be so on top of

everything, and so in charge of everything. (Belinda, 41, casino)

With all gambles, luck plays a more or less central element of the outcome. That is, while in

some games, like poker, skill also plays a role, gambling is a gamble by definition because of the

element of chance. Gamblers do not control the outcome of a gambling game; they only control

their participation in it. While casino gambling participants told us that being out of control is

one of the appeals of casino gambling, our data suggest the experience of being at home leads

many online gamblers to feel an illusionary sense of control. Online gamblers often speak as

though they are in control of the outcome. Danny, who spends about twenty hours a week on

online gambling, describes a picture of a rider on a horse:

Well, I see that as being in charge and being in control… he‟s got the reins, and he‟s

controlling the situation.

Interviewer: And how does that relate to your feelings about online poker?

…you want to be in charge, have command over the table. (Danny, 50, online)

Online gamblers felt that they had better control over their finances when they wagered

online, versus in the casino, often as a result of the contextual differences we outlined earlier. For

example, Cleo mentioned that lacking the physical sensation of holding the chips online she was

―less caught up in it‖ and could ―sit back and think a bit more‖ about her gambles than if she

were in a casino. Several of our online gambling participants mentioned that websites allow the

gambler to set limits and have a cooling off period before more money is allowed to be spent. All

of these facets of website design created the impression, for these gamblers, that they had more

control online than they did in a casino environment.

Because, gambling in a casino if you lose your money, it takes you about two seconds to

go and get some more… If you're gambling online, they have a limit to how much you are

going to be able to lose to begin with. It‟s harder to get a deposit in there. There's a

waiting period between the time you do a deposit and the time your money actually goes

in your account. So you have that cooling off period there… Sometimes during that

cooling off period, you think twice about it. And you can go, "No, I can't afford that. I

better stop."(Jessica, 54, online)

Jessica thinks these limits are necessary and does not think gamblers in a casino can do an

adequate job setting their own limits, but she believes the online environment helps gamblers,

including herself, stay in control. In her summary image she juxtaposed a picture over a person

hanging over the edge of a skyscraper beam into space with a picture of someone exercising

vigorously. These images represent the lack of control she felt when casino gambling, and the

control she feels while gambling online, respectively.

While an out of control feeling can be experienced from time to time by all gambling

participants, in that they can all describe the moment when they place a bet or spin the wheel,

relinquish control and leave it to fate, for casino gamblers this is pleasurable, and part of the

meaning they seek in gambling. In contrast, online players reported playing longer; it appeared to

us that their feelings of being in control may contribute to this longer play, and playing past a

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reasonable stopping point. The online gamblers we spoke with believed they could somehow

control the outcome better than those gamblers in a casino, or themselves, in a casino. Given the

amounts of both time and money our online participants claim to spend on gambling, it is not

apparent to us that they do have more control in the home setting. Early in her interview Cleo

explicitly claimed, as did other online gamblers, that she has more control playing online.

I just think I play better online than I do in person, „cause I kinda get too excited in

person. I‟m not really thinking and laying down the hand I should lay down. I chase the

bad hands too much in person „cause I get too caught up in it. But online I can be a little

more detached and fold when I should fold… I can just think a little more online than in

person, so I make better decisions so I can beat people. (Cleo, 50, online)

However, later in her interview Cleo contradicted this account, recalling an online experience

where she chased her losses:

I lost four tournaments last night… But after losing the first three, I figured, “Okay well

it just wasn‟t my night for the ring games.” So I went to a heads up tournament where

it‟s just two people, winner take all, which happens to cost five times as much as the

other games. And I lost that one, too. So I took five times what I‟d lost and lost it! I went

to bed. It depressed me. I‟m trying to quit smoking right now, and I went out and had two

cigarettes and went to bed. (Cleo, 50, online)

Indeed, although Cleo and others reported that they could focus more clearly and stay in control

better by playing online, Cleo‘s quote highlights a double failure of control: imprudent gambling

and smoking. Chasing losses is one sign of a potential gambling problem and it is noteworthy

that this strategy seems particularly easy to do online, with its easier and faster access to many

tables, and many games. We conclude that there exists among online gamblers a dangerous

illusion of control over outcomes, monetary spending, and time commitment. The idea of control

may have some positive aspects for the online players. But when that feeling of control goes too

far—resulting in chasing losses, or other undesirable behavior—it can be detrimental.

From Conviviality to Battle. The nature of the social contact during gambling changes the

meaning of the game. For casino gamblers, social connections resulted in a convivial atmosphere

in which gamblers spoke of interaction with others (both casino employees and other players) as

part of their overall enjoyment. Casino gambling means conviviality. For online gamblers, the

lack of physically present other people in their environment, coupled with their perceived

anonymity, created a context where players were more aggressive, rude, and competitive. This

led online gamblers to strategically avoid others, to actively attach a battle meaning to gambling.

Connection with others is a fundamental human need, and our casino gamblers fulfill that

convivial need by going to a casino where they can be around other people. Note that ―being

around people‖ did not mean forming long-term relationships, but rather just enjoying being part

of something larger than themselves. Fred mentioned a particular poignant time when he had a

need to be around others and sought out the casino:

The night of 9/11, I went out because I was real depressed, this was a good time to be in

a casino… And I actually played some nickels at the Venetian, and I hit a jackpot of 150

bucks. I felt a little guilty…I was gambling and our country has been attacked, but, it

helped… being around people. … It‟s actually a good feeling for me. (Fred, 44, casino)

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For Shelley, the casino allows her the benefit of being with people without having to get

deeply involved in their lives. Talking about the people playing with her around the craps table:

I don‟t have to make a judgment on them. They‟re just there, they‟re loud, they‟re great,

they‟re having a great time… I‟ll never see them again. Who cares. They don‟t affect my

life at all, so I get my people rush without the commitment (Shelley, 32, casino)

Herb talks to players around him on the slot machines, telling jokes or making small talk, and

says that slot participants will often ―high five‖ each other if either gets a big win, even when

both are strangers. Kristine told us she does not like to sit by herself playing slot machines in the

casino, so she will find someone to play beside. Like Herb, Kristine gets caught up in the

convivial atmosphere, often staying in the casino even after her money runs out, and feeling

enjoyment when others win:

And it‟s a social occasion for people… I like it when we sit together, next to each other,

and play. I do see people I recognize… I do enjoy looking at the other people playing and

seeing how they‟re doing. You know, I mean I don‟t have to be playing my own money. I

get happy if you know, I‟m watching somebody that hits the Wheel of Fortune…. You

know, it‟s just as much fun for me if somebody else wins. (Kristine, 57, casino)

The casino players enjoyed feelings of familiarity (like recognizing other people, or being

recognized by a server with their favorite drink) and they were satisfied with these more

superficial social interactions. Sam refers to these interactions as an important part of the

excitement of casino gambling (and something that would be missing for him if he moved

online). Although in Las Vegas the games he plays can also be accessed at gas stations or

grocery stores, these lack the conviviality he desires:

I don‟t like going to get gas and start playing those machines. I don‟t like that. I like

going to the casino… All the people around, out. It‟s more exciting. You can yell and

stuff…They root, you root each other on. (Sam, 32, casino)

Though online casinos attempt to recreate this conviviality through technological

advances, for online participants the meaning of gambling is more purely the game, the win, the

battle. Indeed, online gamblers mainly tolerated some obtrusive technologies, like online chats,

in order to focus on their battle, a strategy we call strategic ignoring. John notices the chat boxes

but does not pay much attention to them because he considers himself more of a novice gambler

who cannot concentrate both on the game and what people are chatting about. He notes if he

were more experienced perhaps he would strategically use those chats to avoid or target

particular individuals, a strategy we elaborate on below. Similarly, Jessica turns off the chat

boxes while playing because she would rather not have that type of interaction. (Recall that

Jessica stopped going casinos when online gambling became available so that she could avoid

talking to others). She posts the minimal amount of information about herself required by the

casino site (name and age) but refuses to post pictures or any personal information about herself,

claiming she would prefer fifteen hours of ―not saying a word‖ to any type of interaction.

When I'm online I want to be as anonymous as possible. I don't want to hear from these

people. I don't want them calling me, or sending me an e-mail. (Jessica, 54, online)

When Mike is in the middle of a challenging game, he has learned to avoid the chat boxes:

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In fact you know when I‟m up and down and up and down like that I don‟t chat…You

know I just focus on the game that‟s all. So people will be trying to talk to me and I just

ignore them and their swearing at me… doesn‟t bother me anymore. (Mike, 55, online)

Mike says when things are more quiet and he is getting bored he might notice and participate in

the chat but he will not let those kind of interactions interrupt his focus on gambling.

A more active approach to these social connection technologies is the use of friends.

Some online participants mentioned pre-arranged meetings with friends in certain tournaments or

games, and looking for virtual tables where they saw familiar, friendly avatars/icons.

Unfortunately, situations where online gambling produces bullies, or enemies, were more

prevalent. When Donna first started online gambling she participated in the chat boxes but an

early chat interaction resulted in being stalked (over the phone); she is now much more socially

reclusive during online gambling. She relies on her cousin to scout out gambling sites for her,

and often seeks him in online games. In her interview she referred to being in a ―room full of

sharks‖ when playing poker online, and talked about being bullied in the online world:

… when I clicked off, I was crying, I was at the point of tears… I let a complete stranger

who was online, didn‟t know me, I didn‟t know them, hurt me. If it was in person, it would

be different. In person, at a table, it‟s just player 1 or player 2. (Donna, 53, online)

Donna has since learned to ignore the online chats and focus on her own gambling. Tiffany also

has a more fearful approach to her online contact. Although she has access to the computer all

day, the only time she ventures online to gamble is when her husband is with her to ―protect‖

her. One of the reasons Tiffany stopped gambling in a casino was her fear of others trying to

steal from her, but her online behavior indicates that she is also fearful of others online.

The unregulated online environment results in a more chaotic environment with no clear

social norms and rules. The meaning of gambling changes, moving from a sense of shared

conviviality available in the casino to a no-holds-barred battle online. Alice mentioned that there

are several times she has won a hand that someone at her table has called her a ―bitch‖ in the chat

area, something that would not be tolerated in the Vegas casino environment. Unlike Donna and

Tiffany, whose responses to online bullies were to shy away, Alice says such confrontation

brings out her warrior spirit. For her (as well as others) the nasty people online brought out her

competitive side. The first image Alice brought in was a picture of Sylvester fighting some bull

dogs (See figure 4). She relates her experience to the online bullies in relation to that picture:

That I like. Beating the other guy, especially. For example, there‟s this guy online that I

can‟t stand… he‟s a big bully and that‟s just what I call him. So when I see his icon I

want to kick his ass. So [in the image] I am Sylvester confronting the big bully. So that‟s

a challenge and whenever I do beat him, I feel great. (Alice, 58, online)

Manny also discussed how his perceived enemies online fueled his competitiveness. Indeed, the

ability for the online battle to degrade into a more personal competition actually enhanced the

positive experience of online gambling for both Alice and Manny.

…competition. It‟s me against these unknowns. And sometimes it gets to be, there‟s some

nasty people playing. And their language is pretty foul at times. Especially if you beat

them out of a couple of hands. And they can get pretty foul, their language, so it‟s kinda,

it‟s kinda fun beating them. (Manny, 77, online)

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INSERT FIGURE 4 ABOUT HERE

In conclusion, while the convivial atmosphere of the casino leads to positive, albeit

superficial, social interaction, the online environment leads to a battling atmosphere that brings

out gamblers‘ more competitive sides. Some approach this battle by learning to strategically

avoid others, or having another person fight the battle for them. Others take on these unknown

others and thrive through the battle. The online context has changed gambling‘s meaning from

an activity where social togetherness is treasured, to a social environment seen as a battleground.

The lack of the civilizing social processes of the casino helped fuel excessive, personal battles in

the online realm.

From Separation to Integration. Casino gambling is considered a separation, a foray into

a different world from the outside world. Even among regular casino gamblers, those who may

play weekly or more often, there is a demarcation of going to the casino that simply is not the

same as going online. In contrast, gambling online does not imply a separation, rather it is often

fully integrated into day-to-day life. We will explore the separateness of casino gambling, and

juxtapose that to the integration of online gambling into everyday family and routine activities.

Melanie, a casino gambler who favors slot machines, said she tried online gambling and

it quickly lost her interest. It simply was not enjoyable to have gambling integrated into real-life.

To her going to a casino is about the total experience, a different world, and she discusses the

Strip‘s opulence, glamour, and music. Similarly, Kristine describes this casino world:

You can be entertained and have all the elegance of people in a country club and it

doesn‟t cost anything…Casinos are so beautiful, an ordinary person can live like some

wealthy person belonging to a private club… you get to escape the treadmill of your life

and get treated like royalty. (Kristine, 57, casino)

The separation of leaving normal life and entering casino life is also a necessary

transition to the gambling experience for Herb. He is a very frequent gambler. When asked about

whether he would consider online gambling, he first said he did not see the point, but eventually

admitted that the idea of integrating gambling into his home created a fear that he could become

addicted to online gambling. Herb repeatedly mentioned having to have discipline, a good

balance between gambling and the rest of his life, and not becoming a victim of gambling. For

him, creating a separation between real and casino life was a critical component, where ―walking

through the casino door‖ allowed him a separate place for his gambling:

But I don‟t relate to (casino) gambling in the same way (as online), because… the second

you walk past the door, you are in a new world. Be it a fantasy land with a castle or you

know, an old western town. (Herb, 42, casino)

Belinda, another casino gambler, also indicated that there are some days of the week

when gambling is acceptable (on the weekends) and some when it is not (weekdays). She and her

husband go out for dinner on the weekends, and usually find their way to a casino. Recently,

Belinda had a friend visiting from out-of-town and recalled the following:

I picked her up and I took her to the Venetian for breakfast… we both sat down at a video

poker machine next to each other, and I won ten dollars and got up and said, “Let‟s go.”

And she was okay with leaving… I just felt guilty. It was during the week. It was like, I

shouldn‟t be playing. You know, at all…I think during the week, and the fact that it

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wasn‟t my night out, it was just kind of like you know I‟m busy working with our business,

and I run the whole office and do everything… losing eighty dollars on a Wednesday in

the middle of the morning is, that would‟ve really pissed me off. (Belinda, 42, casino)

In contrast to the separation of gambling from real life enjoyed, and needed, by our

casino gamblers, the online gamblers relished the integration of online gaming into the home,

which made it easier for gamblers to gamble without changing their current routine. Online

gambling is quicker to both start and stop. Pace-wise, a gambler can multi-task, stop playing to

make dinner for her family, or do a load of laundry, or take a phone call, and then be right back

to gambling quickly. Brittany remarks on how this integration makes her life easier:

Yeah, this [picture] is just family, because I‟ve been thinking about my family. It‟s pretty

good, when you can sit there and gamble [with them] and cooking and cleaning and go

back and forth. (Brittany, 23, online)

With online gambling, there is no delay of the drive to a casino. Once gambling at a

casino table, one must stay at a table until the gambling is finished. Online gamblers, on the other

hand, enjoy instant on/off and pausing, and can jump tables if they desire. Donna, a former

frequent casino gambler, discusses some of the benefits of this integration into her home:

It‟s convenient… You can watch TV at the same time, listen to the radio... At the casino,

you have to get up. To use the bathroom here, you just put BRB, be right back…there‟s

this place where you just click so you don‟t lose your seat. (Donna, 53, online)

While the convenience of integrating gambling into home life was remarked on by all our

participants, some of the potential downfalls of this integration were not. Manny, a retiree who

used to visit the casinos frequently before his wife passed away, now finds himself spending

more and more time gambling online. He mentions how the online environment is not as

structured as the casino because he can walk to the fridge, get something to eat, and come back

and join a game, and an advantage of playing poker online is that you can table jump, whereas in

the casino there are a limited number of tables and wait time is usually high. One of the images

of casinos he brought was a picture titled ―Reason for getting out of the home.‖ Casinos provided

him a social environment that had been separate from his daily activity. He now relies on the

convenience of online gambling, losing the external social circle he built in the casino.

Integration appears to have additional risks, not always recognized by our participants.

Mike admitted he now plays online every night after dinner while his wife is watching TV in the

other room (gambling $500-$1000 per evening). He mainly gambles online out of boredom ―to

pass the time.‖ Mike brought in an image of a lightning bolt to represent the quickness of being

online (See Figure 3). He also commented about the potential downfall of the increased pace of

online gambling (compared to the casino) when integrated with other home activities:

This is a train wreck, which happens. You can be playing along and you‟re doing well

and all of a sudden if you‟re not focused or… I don‟t say I‟m multi-tasking or anything,

but I mean a lot of times you know I‟ll be doing two things and you know paying attention

to her [wife] or TV and playing and sometimes for a lot of money and I just lose focus

and the next thing I know like I‟ve got a lot of money on the table and all of a sudden you

know the gambling is going down, (snapping fingers) it picks up. (Mike, 55, online)

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Another potential pitfall of the change in gambling meaning, from separation to

integration into the home, has to do with exposing children to gambling. Brittany commented

that the online environment was much better for her than the casino because she could share her

experience with her four-year-old daughter (see Figure 1). However, at-home gambling diverts

attention and focus from other parental activities with the child. For example, Brittany stated that

if she were not gambling on the computer that she would be doing other activities with her child.

Exposure to gambling per se as a child might not be a negative, though some researchers

argue that early exposure may lead to later gambling problems (Kallick et al. 1979). In memories

and remembrances, gambling with parents was recalled fondly. For example, many participants

spoke of seeing their parents play poker around the dining room table. These games were part of

the family experience and were seen as highly social, an extension of other types of game

playing. Our online participants also talk about sharing online gambling with their children and

partners, as part of family time. But this is not the same as playing poker around the table with

one‘s parents once one is old enough to understand the rules. Parents do not talk about engaging

with their children via gambling, but rather integrating gambling time into family time; it is

introducing gambling into your family, rather than introducing your family to gambling, and this

seems to us to be an important difference. For example, Brittany primarily gambles in the

afternoon when her husband and four-year-old are present, and she sees this as her family time.

And here [at-home] if I win something big, I can experience it with my daughter.

“Mommy won!” “Mommy just won!” At a casino, she wouldn‟t be able to sit there and

have that kind of enjoyment with me. …she gets to clap....I don‟t think she understands

what I‟m doing, but she gets excited when she hears the noise on the computer. Because

it will make a noise, “you won!” or something like that. So she‟ll start jumping up and

down too. (Brittany, 23, online).

Integrating gambling into the home often means more time spent together as a family, because

one or both parents are not away at the casino. Indeed, our casino players remarked that they

enjoyed the separation of casino gambling in order to disconnect from their kids, the physical

separation of casino gambling providing a break from family. For example, Belinda said one

thing she relished about going to the casino was leaving her children and responsibilities behind.

Delving further into the meaning of online gambling as consumption integrated into day-

to-day life, we observe that there is a fine line between integrating online gambling into one‘s

routine and having that routine turn into compulsion. Compulsion refers to ―repetitive and

purposeful behaviors that are performed according to certain rules or in a stereotyped fashion‖

(American Psychiatric Association 1985, p. 234). The in-home integration of online gambling

certainly allows it to easily become a consumer compulsion, where day-to-day activities are

driven by their gambling play. Indeed, several online players structured their daily activities

around various tournaments (while we acknowledge visiting casinos can also become ritualized,

the in-home experience of online gambling makes the ritual easier to adopt). Alice plays several

online poker tournaments each day, beginning at 8:00 in the morning. Her household chores,

including making dinner, are scheduled around these four daily tournaments:

I don‟t play after seven o‟clock at night, so I start at eight o‟clock, ten o‟clock, one and

four… by the time [husband] gets home his dinner is always ready…but I‟m still going

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back and forth between the computer and him; whatever he has to do in the evenings is

cool because like I said by six thirty I‟m through. I don‟t even register for the seven

o‟clock because enough is enough. (Alice, 58, online)

Similarly, Donna explains that online gambling has become integrated into her evening routine.

[Each evening] I can indulge in my favorite game and I can sit with some ice cream and

hot tea, and at that point, I just don‟t care if I win or lose. [later] Sometimes I‟ll get on

and I‟ll be tired, but… I get online to kind of zone me out, package me away, forget about

my pain, let the sleeping pill kick in. (Donna, 53, online)

DISCUSSION

In the last few decades in North America, the consumption of gambling, and attitudes

towards it, has undergone a remarkable transformation. Legalized casino gambling is widely

accessible to virtually every North American consumer. The combination of increased access,

and increased cultural acceptance, has led to increased gambling, both recreational and

pathological. Casino gambling is heavily regulated and scrutinized. As a result, the experience of

casino gambling is often more sanitized than the experience of illegal, unregulated online

gambling. We know that transgression has appeal, whether it is based on sex, gambling, or other

vices (Belk et al. 2003). Speculating somewhat, we believe that online gambling has more of a

whiff of scandal and transgression, so it may be more desirable to gamblers who can easily

choose between casino and online (Smith 1996).

The ability to partake in online gambling is a result of technological advances in the

Internet, in gambling software, and in secure payment systems. This technological system is

clearly subject to the same sorts of technology paradoxes identified by Mick and Fournier

(1998). In particular, we see four of the paradoxes they identify as particularly salient to in-home

consumption of gambling: freedom/enslavement, efficiency/inefficiency, assimilation/isolation

and engaging/disengaging. First, online gamblers face fewer restrictions (including prohibitions

on ages appropriate for gambling) and yet these reduced restrictions, for some people, lead to a

dependence on the technology, as we have seen (freedom/enslavement). Second, online

gambling means that the time required to get into a gambling consumption situation is far less

(click of a mouse versus the trip to a casino). However, this technology also appears to result in

far more absolute time spent gambling (efficiency/inefficiency). Third, when online gamblers

integrate their families in gambling, particularly their children, they are facilitating some family

togetherness. However, online gambling, particularly for some seniors, meant that they did not

venture out to the casino anymore, reducing their social interactions (assimilation/isolation).

Finally, we saw evidence of online gambling certainly creating flow experiences, but

simultaneously leading to a more passive consumption of gambling games

(engaging/disengaging).

When gambling consumption moves into the home, gambling behavior becomes a part of

everyday living. When not seen as reserved solely as behavior for an outing, or a special

occasion, we found that gambling is more likely to become a pernicious, insidiously integrated

component of a consumer‘s life. Online gambling can happen without the knowledge of non-

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gambling significant others (spouse, parents). It can be done away from their gaze and the

censure. One can also sneak out to a casino too, but it is harder to hide this behavior, and it

should be impossible for children or adolescents to enter a casino.

The next generation of gamblers is the first in modern history to grow up in an era when

gambling is legally sanctioned and at least somewhat culturally approved. Unfortunately,

adolescents have proven extremely susceptible to the enticements of gambling; past research has

found that they become addicted gamblers at rates even greater than their adult counterparts. A

meta-analysis of gambling studies in North America lead the researchers to conclude that the rate

of problem gambling for youths ranged between 9.9 percent and 14.2 percent, while an

additional 4.4 percent to 7.4 percent were already exhibiting compulsive gambling behaviors

(Shaffer and Hall 1996). Because the Internet allows even more accessibility to underage

gamblers, and the integration of the gambling experience into everyday life heightens its cultural

acceptability, it is likely that the problem with adolescent gambling will become even greater.

Indeed, the number of college males who gambled online at least once a week had quadrupled

between 2005-06; overall, estimates are that 1.6 million U.S. college students gambled online

during the same time period (Woodruff and Gregory 2005). It is estimated that of these, one

quarter of them exhibited characteristics of a pathological gambler (Schwartz, D. 2006).

An important aspect of this movement of formerly public consumption experiences into

the home is the reduction in regulation. There is little or no ability to police these illegal sites,

and no strict, enforceable regulations. Among the online gamblers we spoke to, there is a

widespread belief that underage players are gambling online, and several online participants told

us about fellow gamblers soliciting help for their homework via the gambling chat boxes. This is

perceived by our participants as a negative aspect of online gambling; several participants

believe online access to youth will lead to increased gambling addictions. Regardless of whether

one believes in intervention to protect consumers from themselves, or whether one takes a more

libertarian view, there is no escaping the conclusion that with online gambling there are little or

no protections for the populations that would be banned in casinos (e.g., children).

As access to gambling increases, so too does the potential for the absolute number of

problem gamblers to grow. Indeed the illegal (and as a result unregulated) online gambling

websites continue to multiply, enticing more and more consumers to move gambling into the

home. There are several frightening consumer welfare implications of this. First,

intergenerational influence will lead to gamblers who grow up seeing nothing unusual in

wagering relatively large sums of money from one‘s home. We know that many varied

consumption behaviors, and consumption values are transmitted intergenerationally (Moore,

Wilkie and Lutz 2001). Recent research has also shown that early exposure can imprint later

preferences (Braun-LaTour, LaTour and Zinkhan 2007). More than half our sample mentioned

learning to gamble from someone in their family. For these people, there is a positive, nostalgic

glow to gambling. There are indications that this will continue to be passed to their children.

Second, gambling, as an integrated feature of the home, becomes a routinized part of

everyday consumption (like watching television) and that sort of routine can lead to more

mindless consumption of gambling, and resultant losses. That is because, in contrast to a

separated gambling consumption event, with predetermined attempts at setting a limited budget

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Do not quote or cite without permission.

(regardless of success at budgeting), in-home consumption becomes something explicitly not

planned for, something that is just done every day.

Oddly enough, one potential solution for many of these problems is allowing legitimate

(corporate) sponsors of gambling, like the corporations who run the major casinos in Las Vegas,

(or even the government sponsors in Canada) to enter a newly regulated market for online

gambling. Just as legalized commercial gambling in casinos allowed governments to regulate it,

so too could the legalization of online gambling allow for better regulation, and attempts at

reducing the growth of problem gamblers.

We demonstrated that there are many ways to consume online gambling. It can involve

reasonably healthy, somewhat social interaction online, with the use of chat rooms and virtual

pictures at a poker table. It can also be done alone, resulting in solitary, routine loss of money in

everyday gambling at home. There are ways that online casinos could reduce the harmful effects

of gambling. These include better age checks associated with signing up for an online account,

cross checking new users with lists of pathological gamblers, setting financial limits on

gambling, and having the site communicate to gamblers that are spending long hours and much

money, and information about problem gambling treatments via pop-ups or instant messages.

Regulations might also require having a problem gambling counselor available online.

Another one of our prescriptions for a new, heavily regulated online gambling industry is

a cooling off period. Rarely used by online gambling sites currently, this technique forces

gamblers to stop gambling for some pre-set amount of time before they are allowed to remove

more money from their accounts, that is, there is a delay between when they request more

money, and when they are allowed to access it. Additionally, the online provider could make the

tabulations of wins and losses more central, and larger on the screen, to increase the player‘s

awareness of where they stand. This might mitigate the behavior we observed in our data:

emotional detachment from the online game resulted in large losses.

One of the more positive aspects of our results regarding online gambling is that the

online atmosphere does not provide many of the emotional highs associated with being in a

regular casino. As long as the online environment remains rather low intensity as an emotional

experience, and without the social connection and ―fire of desire‖ fueled by the casino

environment, the propensity for addiction might not necessarily be as strong. The online

environment is also lacking in sensory touch stimulation. Peck and Childers (2006) find that the

salience of touch increases impulse-purchasing behavior, suggesting that consumers in casinos

may be more prone to making impulsive decisions than their online counterparts.

However, one can easily see how the online casino provider could make the online game

more exciting—flashing bold graphics on-screen with a big win—or allowing more signs of

status (such as multiple dollars signs next to screen names, differentiating experts from novice

gamblers) in order to feed into the ego and achievement aspect of the traditional casino.

Although somewhat speculative, based on our data we believe that if these were incorporated

into the online experience it would likely increase the problematic possibility of online gambling.

In our sample the online gamblers were able to supplement their gambling in a casino.

This speaks to one of the limitations of our sample, as there are many online gamblers that do not

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have such easy access to casinos. Also, our participants were first exposed to gambling through

casinos and later went online; casinos framed how they approached online gambling.

The myth of easy money continues to fuel gambling consumption, and the online, in-

home consumption of gambling has far more pernicious effects, as we have shown. Gambling is

only one of several forms of dark-side consumption behaviors that negatively affect many

consumers. Whatever one‘s political or moral stance on gambling, or other dark-side behaviors,

we all at least need to consider that, with online access increasingly in every home, we (and our

children) will need deal with casinos in every home (King 1999).

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TABLE 1

PARTICIPANT PROFILES

NAME

AGE

GENDER

TYPE OF

GAMBLER

FREQUENCY OF GAMBLING

Alice

Female

Online

Every day, 3-4 hours

Donna

Female

Online

2-3 nights per week

Danny

Male

Online

20 hours/week

Jim

Male

Online

Every night

Cleo

Female

Online

Every day

Jessica

Female

Online

Twice a week - 6 hours each time

Mike

Male

Online

3 nights per week

Manny

Male

Online

Daily

Brittany

Female

Online

3 days per week

Tim

Male

Online

Almost daily

Allen

Male

Casino

3 times per week

Alexandra

Female

Casino

1-2 times per month

Belinda

Female

Casino

2-3 times per month

Connie

Female

Casino

Twice per week

Fred

Male

Casino

Once a week

Herb

Male

Casino

2-3 times per week

Greg

Male

Casino

Every day

Jill

Female

Casino

3-4 times per month

Kristine

Female

Casino

Once a week

Larry

Male

Casino

1-2 times per week

Liam

Male

Casino

1-2 times per month

Logan

Male

Casino

5 days per week

Lorraine

Female

Casino

1-2 times per week

Matt

Male

Casino

1-2 times per week

Melanie

Female

Casino

Once a week

Paul

Male

Casino

Twice per week

Rebecca

Female

Casino

3-4 times per week

Sam

Male

Casino

Every weekend

Sarah

Female

Casino

Twice per week

Shelley

Female

Casino

Once per month

Note: Frequency of gambling is described using the participants‘ own wording.

FIGURE 1

BRITTANY‘S SUMMARY IMAGE

FIGURE 2

TIM‘S SUMMARY IMAGE

FIGURE 3

MIKE‘S SUMMARY IMAGE

FIGURE 4

ALICE‘S SUMMARY IMAGE

FIGURE 1

BRITTANY‘S SUMMARY IMAGE

FIGURE 2

TIM‘S SUMMARY IMAGE

FIGURE 3

MIKE‘S SUMMARY IMAGE

FIGURE 4

ALICE‘S SUMMARY IMAGE

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Dec 1997

June Cotte

Why do gamblers spend their leisure time and money on gambling? The motives of gamblers are explored using data collected in a casino via ethnographic participant observation. The interpretation presented here combines data with insights from prior research and theories of gambling and experiential consumption. Gambling motives are presented in a three-dimensional typology showing that motives for consuming gambling experiences include learning and evaluating, seeking a "rush", self-definition, risk-taking, cognitive self-classification, emotional self-classification, competing, and communing. The research thus advances understanding of gambling beyond previously hypothesized economic, symbolic, and hedonic motives. Although created in a gambling domain, the typology presented has more general implications for how leisure consumption is treated both theoretically and empirically in future research.

Interpreting Consumers: A Hermeneutical Framework for Deriving Marketing Insights From the Texts of Consumers' Consumption Stories

Article

Full-text available

Nov 1997

Craig J. Thompson

The author describes and illustrates a hermeneutically grounded interpretive framework for deriving marketing-relevant insights from the "texts" of consumer stories and gives an overview of the philosophical and theoretical foundations of this approach. Next, the author describes a hermeneutic framework for interpreting the stories consumers tell about their experiences of products, services, brand images, and shopping. An illustrative analysis demonstrates how this framework can be applied to generate three levels of interpretation: (1) discerning the key patterns of meanings expressed by a given consumer in the texts of his or her consumption stories, (2) identifying key patterns of meaning that emerge across the consumption stories expressed by different consumers, and (3) deriving broader conceptual and managerial implications from the analysis of consumer narratives. This hermeneutic approach is compared and contrasted to the means-end chains laddering framework, the "voice of the customer" approach to identifying consumer needs, and market-oriented ethnography. The author concludes with a discussion that highlights the types of marketing insights that can result from a hermeneutic interpretation of consumers' consumption stories and then addresses the roles creativity and expertise play in this research orientation.

Estimating the Prevalence of Adolescent Gambling Disorders: A Quantitative Synthesis and Guide Toward Standard Gambling Nomenclature

Article

Full-text available

Jun 1996
J GAMBL STUD

This article reviews the extant published and unpublished studies that estimate the prevalence of adolescent gambling problems in North America. The nine nonduplicative studies identified by our literature search included data collected from more than 7700 adolescents from five different regions of the United States and Canada. In addition to comparing the conceptual and methodological differences that exist among these studies, this article employed a meta-analytic strategy to synthesize prevalence estimates from the existing studies. This analysis revealed that within a 95 percent confidence interval, between 9.9% and 14.2% of adolescents are at risk of developing or returning to serious gambling problems. Similarly, between 4.4% and 7.4% of adolescents exhibit seriously adverse compulsive or pathological patterns of gambling activity. Finally, the discussion proposes a generic multi-level classification scheme to reconcile the divergent classification methods and data reporting strategies. This new multi-level approach to reporting gambling prevalence will facilitate interstudy comparisons among existing estimates of gambling prevalence and help to provide a general data reporting system for future research.

We Are What We Post? Self-Presentation in Personal Web Space

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2003

This article examines personal Web sites as a conspicuous form of consumer self-presentation. Using theories of self- presentation, possessions, and computer- mediated environments ( CMEs), we investigate the ways in which consumers construct identities by digitally associating themselves with signs, symbols, material objects, and places. Specifically, the issues of interest include why consumers create personal Web sites, what consumers want to communicate, what strategies they devise to achieve their goal of self- presentation, and how those Web space strategies compare to the self- presentation strategies of real life ( RL). The data reveal insights into the strategies behind constructing a digital self, projecting a digital likeness, digitally associating as a new form of possession, and reorganizing linear narrative structures.

Interpreting Consumers: A Hermeneutical Framework for Deriving Marketing Insights from the Texts of Consumers’ Consumption Stories

Article

Nov 1997

Craig J. Thompson

The author describes and illustrates a hermeneutically grounded interpretive framework for deriving marketing-relevant insights from the “texts” of consumer stories and gives an overview of the philosophical and theoretical foundations of this approach. Next, the author describes a hermeneutic framework for interpreting the stories consumers tell about their experiences of products, services, brand images, and shopping. An illustrative analysis demonstrates how this framework can be applied to generate three levels of interpretation: (1) discerning the key patterns of meanings expressed by a given consumer in the texts of his or her consumption stories, (2) identifying key patterns of meaning that emerge across the consumption stories expressed by different consumers, and (3) deriving broader conceptual and managerial implications from the analysis of consumer narratives. This hermeneutic approach is compared and contrasted to the means—end chains laddering framework, the “voice of the customer” approach to identifying consumer needs, and market-oriented ethnography. The author concludes with a discussion that highlights the types of marketing insights that can result from a hermeneutic interpretation of consumers’ consumption stories and then addresses the roles creativity and expertise play in this research orientation.

Observation on gambling in a lower class setting

Article

Jan 1964

Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits

Article

Jan 2004

Earl Grinols

The public decision-making process governing the issue of casino gambling tends to lead to wrong outcomes, and the studies typically provided to justify the phenomenon are conceptually flawed. Seeking to describe what true economic development is, this study establishes the framework for a valid cost-benefit analysis to assess whether it actually occurs and its methods can be applied to the casino industry in America. Accounting for a wide range of economic and social factors, Earl Grinols concludes that the social costs of casino gambling considerably outweigh their social benefits.

Profile of Internet gamblers: Betting on the future

Article

Jan 2005

Computer-mediated communication and social identity

Article

Jan 2007

This article argues that social identities not only populate computer-mediated communication (CMC) and the Internet, but they often thrive there, both by designation (of identity: the cognitive dimension) and by design (the strategic dimension in which identities and their agendas are contested). This means that far from being eliminated in CMC, the group and its effects often shine through in CMC (intragroup cohesiveness and conformity, intergroup contrast, and competition). In terms of status and power differentials this can mean that the power and status relations associated with categories are reinforced, both cognitively, by being tied to the roles and relations associated with these identities, and strategically, by the surveillance which CMC can sometimes bring.

Internet and face‐to‐face communication: Not functional alternatives

Article

Jun 1998

This study is a preliminary investigation of computer‐mediated communication (CMC) as a functional alternative to face‐to‐face communication. We examined the relationships between motives for using the Internet as a CMC channel and motives for face‐to‐face interactions as well as the influence of locus of control and communication apprehension as antecedents of face‐to‐face and mediated interactions. We surveyed a sample (N=132) of Internet users and tested the hypothesis that no differences exist between CMC and interpersonal communication motives (i.e., that they would be functional alternatives). We also used MANOVA and ANOVA procedures to see if main and interaction effects existed for high and low locus of control and high and low CMC apprehension respondents on interpersonal and media motives. Results indicated CMC Apprehension main effect differences for communication motives, and that use of the Internet as a communication channel is not perceived as a functional alternative to face‐to‐face communication.

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