No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Wins, Winning and Winners: The Commercial Advertising of Lottery Gambling
Abstract
This study analyzed a sample of 920 lottery ads that were placed or played in Atlantic Canada from January 2005 to December 2006. A content analysis, involving quantitative and qualitative techniques, was conducted to examine the design features, exposure profiles and focal messages of these ads and to explore the connections between lottery advertising and consumer culture. We found that there was an "ethos of winning" in these commercials that provided the embedded words, signs, myths, and symbols surrounding lottery gambling and conveyed a powerful imagery of plentitude and certitude in a world of potential loss where there was little reference to the actual odds of winning. The tangible and emotional qualities in the ads were especially inviting to young people creating a positive orientation to wins, winning and winners, and lottery products that, in turn, reinforced this form of gambling as part of youthful consumption practices. We concluded that enticing people with the prospects of huge jackpots, attractive consumer goods and easy wins, showcasing top prize winners, and providing dubious depictions that winning is life-changing was narrow and misleading and exploited some of the factors associated with at-risk gambling.
... Capturing these data in real time minimizes recall bias and enables us to collect direct marketing and digital gambling ads that are targeted and personalized. Extant research conducting content analyses of gambling ads utilized ads that were extracted by the researchers (e.g., Bradley & James, 2019;Killick & Griffiths, 2022b;Lopez-Gonzalez, Guerrero-Solé, et al., 2018) or provided by gambling operators (e.g., McMullan & Miller, 2009). In addition, previous studies mainly relied on recall measures of gambling advertising exposure (e.g., via surveys); however, this indicates that participants have to remember and report the advertising they were exposed to in a certain period in the past (e.g., Hanss et al., 2015;Hing et al., 2013). ...
... Several content analyses were already conducted to examine the content of gambling advertisements. However, these prior content analyses chiefly focus on ads for a specific gambling game such as social casino games (Abarbanel et al., 2017), lottery (McMullan & Miller, 2009), or sports betting (Lopez-Gonzalez, Estévez, et al., 2018;Lopez-Gonzalez, Guerrero-Solé, et al., 2018;Roth-Cohen & Tamir, 2017), or focus on a specific platform such as Twitter (Bradley & James, 2019) or TV poker shows (Kim et al., 2013). The current research contributes to these existing content analyses by examining the variety of gambling ads young adults encounter in order to gain a complete picture of the advertising formats that are used by gambling advertisers to target young adults, the advertising strategies that are applied in the ads, and the implementation of harm reduction messages and age indications. ...
... In addition, the chances of winning were presented as high. In line with these results, McMullan and Miller (2009) performed a content analysis on 920 lottery ads and also established that there was an 'ethos of winning' in these ads. Specifically focusing on ads for social casino games (i.e., simulated gambling games on social media), Abarbanel et al. (2017), using a diary study among twenty young adults to collect the advertisements, conducted a content analysis on 115 unique social casino gaming ads. ...
... In this project, we conduct a content analysis of gambling advertisement slogans. Naturally, ours is not the first attempt to do so; see, e.g., McMullan & Miller (2009) and Sklar & Derevensky (2011). However, we believe our approach shows a number of appealing and largely novel features. ...
... Certain advertisements may follow this path, masquerading gambling as a ''fun'' time spent with friends or simply as an ordinary, harmless activity (Sparrow, 2009). Yet others try to link gambling to other socially desirable activities, such as sports (McMullan & Miller, 2009). Ultimately, of course, it is not so much the contents of advertisements that matter but its effects (Binde, 2007b). ...
... Focusing on the more long-term effects, Perry (1999) provided statistics showing a rapid increase in popularity among the youth of a cigarette brand after it started using a cartoon character in its advertisements; a discussion of an analogous impact of gambling advertisements upon the younger generation can be found in Derevensky et al. (2007) and Korn et al. (2005); see also Binde (2014) and McMullan & Miller (2009) for a comprehensive review. Taking a broader perspective, while irrational cognitions may be associated with more intense gambling (Goodie & Fortune, 2013), it is not yet well understood how these errors and biases arise (Monaghan et al., 2009) and to what extent they are malleable. ...
In this paper, we analyse the contents of over a thousand gambling slogans. We identify several features considered in the literature that the slogans might capitalize on. In particular, we investigate heuristics and biases analyzed in the behavioural economics of decision making under risk, such as the gambler’s fallacy. We then employ factor analysis to identify the main types of heuristics and biases showing up in the analyzed slogans. We find three naturally interpretable factors and show that they intuitively correlate with the type of game each slogan advertised. We also construct an index of potentially dangerous features a slogan might have and show that their use subsided slightly in the UK after the Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising was implemented in 2007.RésuméCet article porte sur l’analyse de plus d’un millier de slogans sur les jeux de hasard. Nous retrouvons dans ces slogans de nombreuses caractéristiques évoquées dans la littérature sur le sujet, en particulier les heuristiques et biais analysés en économie comportementale dans la prise de décision en situation de risque, comme l’illusion du joueur. Au moyen d’une analyse factorielle, nous dégageons les trois principaux types d’heuristiques et de biais qui se manifestent dans les slogans étudiés. Nous décelons ensuite trois facteurs interprétables et démontrons leurs corrélations intuitives avec le type de jeu dont chaque slogan fait la promotion. Enfin, nous proposons un index des caractéristiques potentiellement dangereuses des slogans sur les jeux de hasard et démontrons que l’emploi de ceux-ci a diminué légèrement au Royaume-Uni après l’adoption du Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising en 2007.
... It conveys the general idea that gambling is an exciting, enjoyable and harmless form of entertainment through images of attractiveness and fun. It induces a positive attitude toward gambling which in turn may cause gambling-related problems (Derevensky, Sklär, Gupta, Messerlian, Laroche and Mansour, 2010;Korn, Hurson and Reynolds , 2003;McMullan and Miller, 2009). ...
... This high level of exposure leads to the normalization of gambling behavior. Gambling is regarded as being part of normal teenagers' experience just as school, instant messaging or summer vacation (Korn et al., 2003;McMullan and Miller, 2009). McMullan and Miller (2009) in analyzing a sample of 920 lottery ads that were placed or played in Atlantic Canada from January 2005 to December 2006 conclude that "the tangible and emotional qualities in the ads were especially inviting to young people creating a positive orientation to wins, winning and winners, and lottery products that, in turn, reinforced this form of gambling as part of youthful consumption practices" (McMullan and Miller, 2009, p 273). ...
... Gambling is regarded as being part of normal teenagers' experience just as school, instant messaging or summer vacation (Korn et al., 2003;McMullan and Miller, 2009). McMullan and Miller (2009) in analyzing a sample of 920 lottery ads that were placed or played in Atlantic Canada from January 2005 to December 2006 conclude that "the tangible and emotional qualities in the ads were especially inviting to young people creating a positive orientation to wins, winning and winners, and lottery products that, in turn, reinforced this form of gambling as part of youthful consumption practices" (McMullan and Miller, 2009, p 273). According to these authors, gambling ads encourage youth to dream about what they could buy with their winnings and to develop some counterfactual thinking ("e.g" "it could happen to me" or "it.s my lucky day"). ...
The harmful effects of gambling advertising on youth are well established. We propose a theoretical framework derived from Inoculation Theory. The objective of this article is to propose alternative strategies for promoting responsible gambling among youth. We contrast two approaches, that of inducing youth to resist gambling ads persuasive appeals vs that of persuading them of the danger related to an excessive gambling behavior. We also suggest in which contexts message- induced resistance may be more efficient than an awareness-message on gambling related risks.
... Online and casino gambling are found to be advertised as an entertainment experience in which gamblers could live a winning, glitzy fantasy, and escape the routines of everyday life (McMullan & Miller, 2008, 2010. Lottery advertisements frequently display images and messaging of large jackpots, including images of prior winners and wording describing how winning is life-changing (McMullan & Miller, 2009). ...
... Interestingly, although use of humor has previously been a common theme in gambling advertising (see, e.g., Derevensky et al., 2010;Kim, Lee, & Jung, 2013;McMullan & Miller, 2009), only two of the analyzed images used humor, relying primarily on other message vehicles to attract customers. ...
... Based on each coder's original coding, matched coding for other variables in the individual image were recorded and reviewed. 2. Appropriateness of the code (or lack of code) was discussed by reviewing the full image coding, theme variable definitions, analytical framework, and review of prior examples in gambling advertisement content analysis (includingDerevensky et al., 2007;McMullan & Miller 2009, 2010. 3. ...
Social casino gaming, which simulates gambling games on social platforms, has become increasingly popular and is rapidly merging with the gambling industry. Advertisements for social casino games, however, are not bound by the same regulations as real money gambling, despite their similarities. We performed a content analysis of a sample of 115 unique social casino gaming advertisements captured by young adults during their regular Internet use. The results showed that the advertisement imagery typically featured images likely to appeal to young adults, such as bright colors, character images of young adults, cartoon animal characters, gambling and sporting activities, references to popular culture, and references to Las Vegas. Latent and manifest message themes included glamorization of gambling, winning, normalization of gambling, play for free, and a general encouragement to play. Notably, nearly 90 percent of the advertisements contained no responsible or problem gambling language, despite the gambling-like content. As young people are receptive of messages that encourage gambling, we recommend that gaming companies recognize the potential harms of advertisements and embrace corporate social responsibility standards. This includes adding warning messages to advertisements for gambling-themed games and ensuring that marketing messages do not encourage excessive gambling.
... It conveys the general idea that gambling is an exciting, enjoyable and harmless form of entertainment through images of attractiveness and fun. It induces a positive attitude toward gambling which in turn may cause gambling-related problems (Derevensky, Sklär, Gupta, Messerlian, Laroche and Mansour, 2010;Korn, Hurson and Reynolds , 2003;McMullan and Miller, 2009). ...
... This high level of exposure leads to the normalization of gambling behavior. Gambling is regarded as being part of normal teenagers' experience just as school, instant messaging or summer vacation (Korn et al., 2003;McMullan and Miller, 2009). McMullan and Miller (2009) in analyzing a sample of 920 lottery ads that were placed or played in Atlantic Canada from January 2005 to December 2006 conclude that "the tangible and emotional qualities in the ads were especially inviting to young people creating a positive orientation to wins, winning and winners, and lottery products that, in turn, reinforced this form of gambling as part of youthful consumption practices" (McMullan and Miller, 2009, p 273). ...
... Gambling is regarded as being part of normal teenagers' experience just as school, instant messaging or summer vacation (Korn et al., 2003;McMullan and Miller, 2009). McMullan and Miller (2009) in analyzing a sample of 920 lottery ads that were placed or played in Atlantic Canada from January 2005 to December 2006 conclude that "the tangible and emotional qualities in the ads were especially inviting to young people creating a positive orientation to wins, winning and winners, and lottery products that, in turn, reinforced this form of gambling as part of youthful consumption practices" (McMullan and Miller, 2009, p 273). According to these authors, gambling ads encourage youth to dream about what they could buy with their winnings and to develop some counterfactual thinking ("e.g" "it could happen to me" or "it.s my lucky day"). ...
... Content analyses suggest that gambling ads exploit some factors linked to problem gambling such as: the association between wins, winning and winners and the propensity to invest in continuous play; between overselling and overestimating winning returns and the propensity to chase losses, between consumer myth making, faulty thinking and the real statistical probabilities of economic success and social mobility from gambling […]. (McMullan and Miller, 2009: 291) Indeed, it is now established that heaviest gamblers tend to believe more than regular or non-gamblers that gambling is an easy way to win money and/or that it is possible to influence the result of the game (McMullan and Miller, 2009;Orford et al., 2009). ...
... Despite the increasing awareness of problem gambling and the importance of this issue, little is known about the link between gambling advertising and the development of gambling-related problems (Binde, 2007;Griffiths, 2005;Lemarie and Chebat, 2013;McMullan and Miller, 2009). ...
... One hundred and forty-seven gambling ads broadcasted on TV during the last 5 years were selected for the pilot study. First, a content analysis was performed on the basis of items borrowed mostly from McMullan and Miller's (2009) study, that is, six nominal (product, type of game, and year) and 51 dichotomous items used to describe the characteristics of gambling ads. The 51 dichotomous items identified the intended audience (gender, age, and gambling status), the format of the ad (e.g. ...
Our study investigates the effects of pro versus anti-gambling messages funded by the gambling industry. Paradoxically, our results show that anti-gambling ads funded by the gambling industry enhance gambling intent as do pro-gambling ads. We propose some suggestions related to the ways this finding should guide public policies.
... Celebrity participation also constitutes a risk as it might make gamblers less risk averse and less hesitant about gambling (Lamont et al., 2016). Portrayals of big wins and joyous feelings, inclusions of bonus offers and free spins, emphasis on quick cash-outs, luxury and power may equally be risky (Håkansson & Widinghoff, 2019), as may the use of humor (McMullan & Miller, 2009). Taken together, these risk elements are seen to contribute to a normalizing of gambling in society; that is, gambling is promoted as a socially acceptable leisure activity which is seen as problematic (Killick & Griffith, 2022;McMullan & Miller, 2009;Parke et al., 2014). ...
... Portrayals of big wins and joyous feelings, inclusions of bonus offers and free spins, emphasis on quick cash-outs, luxury and power may equally be risky (Håkansson & Widinghoff, 2019), as may the use of humor (McMullan & Miller, 2009). Taken together, these risk elements are seen to contribute to a normalizing of gambling in society; that is, gambling is promoted as a socially acceptable leisure activity which is seen as problematic (Killick & Griffith, 2022;McMullan & Miller, 2009;Parke et al., 2014). ...
Gambling advertising’s use of celebrities, humor, and representations of happy people who Win Big, in narratives told in brash colored, high-pitched ads, are argued to increase the risk for gambling problems, or worse, addiction. Online casino ads have been subject to particular legislative attention partly for these reasons, as well as for being increasingly targeted to women who, by some, are judged to be especially vulnerable to such marketing. This paper presents a context-attentive, multimodal discourse analysis of a Swedish online casino brand’s advertising videos from 2014-2022. The study illustrates how general statements regarding risk in relation to (online casino) gambling ads’ content dramatically reduces their potential cultural significance to audiences. It is argued that one should, to a greater extent, treat these adverts as complex and socio-culturally rooted texts whose content may not so easily be written off as simply “risky,” to women or otherwise.
... They are also targeted by marketing campaigns which can steer them towards gambling by distorting the social and financial rewards of gambling (Molinaro et al., 2014). Indeed, advertisements on social media, use of celebrities to promote gambling, and the opportunity to make substantial financial gains from gambling, are all powerful marketing tools that are very effective on young people (McMullan & Miller, 2009). The values put forth in these messages are particularly appealing to young gamblers (Binde, 2014;McMullan & Miller, 2009). ...
... Indeed, advertisements on social media, use of celebrities to promote gambling, and the opportunity to make substantial financial gains from gambling, are all powerful marketing tools that are very effective on young people (McMullan & Miller, 2009). The values put forth in these messages are particularly appealing to young gamblers (Binde, 2014;McMullan & Miller, 2009). This greater engagement of young adults in gambling happens at the conjunction of discourses in gambling promotion and responsible gambling. ...
The responsible gambling approach is the subject of significant debate in the scientific community due to its tendency to individualize responsibility, focusing heavily on the gambler’s responsibility for gambling-related harm. Despite the gambler, and their responsibility, being the focus of responsible gambling discourse, their voices and perspectives remain largely absent. This study aims to address this limitation by documenting the social representations of the concept of responsibility held by gamblers themselves. How does the gambler 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? This qualitative research is based on semi-structured interviews with 30 young adults (aged between 18 and 30 years old) who participated in gambling activities in the year preceding the research interview (2018). The results reveal that the social representations of responsibility held by gamblers fit into five categories: self control, knowing the rules and making the right decision, enjoying the game, not becoming an addict, and preventing harms related to gambling. All of these categories were found to be rooted in an individual perspective of responsibility. These results are discussed in light of the process of constructing the social representations of responsibility within the responsible gambling approach and in a neoliberal context.
... The thought of gambling being a glamorous and exciting activity (Healthy Place 2020) is an image often reinforced by gambling advertisements that are promoting a sense of excitement and fantasy, achievable through participation in betting (Derevensky et al. 2010). Additionally, the brightly coloured themes, sound effects and musical overlays often found in televised gambling commercials are an attempt to stimulate betting by amplifying the excitement associated with involvement in gambling (Zangeneh et al. 2008;McMullan and Miller 2009). ...
... Interview findings demonstrate that the excitement of OSG compels most respondents to bet repeatedly (Neighbors et al. 2002;Mental Health Foundation 2020) and the young adults that took part in this study were certainly aware of online bookmakers highlighting the excitement of gambling through their marketing campaigns (Zangeneh et al. 2008;McMullan and Miller 2009). Respondents claimed that online gambling advertisements often focused "more on the excitement" (Interview1) of betting than anything else, achieved by creating "loud, noisy advertisements" (Interview10). ...
In an industry that has experienced rapid growth for a number of years, where product differentiation is minimal, the marketing tactics of online sports gambling (OSG) bookmakers are likely to push the boundaries of what can be considered responsible, as companies seek to stand out from competitors and take advantage of industry growth. This research aims to explore how the marketing tactics of OSG companies shape the gambling habits of young adult consumers, and whether this demographic considers these tactics responsible. Recommendations are made on how online bookmakers can remain responsible in their marketing to young adults. Findings revealed that the primary motivation behind young adults’ recreational gambling was the excitement induced through participation. Further, young adults’ OSG bookmaker preference is influenced by promotional offers for existing customers. Results from the study indicate that in general, young adults do not deem the varied marketing techniques employed by OSG companies as irresponsible practices. However there were concerns regarding the potential impact of the continued increase in OSG marketing on problem gamblers and children (under 18).
... This view is perpetuated by the promotional activities of lotteries institutions that encourage the idea that using these products is a normal behavior that has additional benefits for the community in the form of funding important social https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106472 Received 10 March 2020; Received in revised form 27 April 2020; Accepted 14 May 2020 infrastructure (McMullan & Miller, 2009;Wood & Griffiths, 2004). It has been suggested that due to their widespread use, lotteries products may result in higher levels of population-level gambling harm than is currently recognized (Costes et al., 2018). ...
... Lotteries products are typically perceived as a being innocuous, yet these results add to an increasing body of evidence showing that they are associated with harm in a substantial minority of users (Costes et al., 2018;Subramaniam et al., 2016). While lotteries institutions often bolster government revenue and fund community projects (Beckert & Lutter, 2012;McMullan & Miller, 2009), this comes at a cost that appears to be borne disproportionally by specific population subgroups. Policy makers need to act to minimize the harms that lotteries institutions bring to the community and ensure that their products are sold in a responsible manner. ...
Lotteries products (lottery tickets and scratch tickets) are the most popular forms of gambling worldwide, however little research has investigated whether these products are associated with gambling-related harm. The limited available research suggests these products are linked to problematic gambling behaviors and a range of resulting negative outcomes, with certain sub-groups appearing to be more vulnerable to experiencing harms. The present study examined risk of gambling-related harm (measured by the Problem Gambling Severity Index) from lotteries products use in an Australian sample of lotteries-only gamblers (n = 540). Additionally, the study investigated whether risk varied according to a range of sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics (age, gender, household income, location (rural vs. metropolitan), employment status, alcohol consumption, smoking status, frequency of e-cigarette use, frequency of scratch ticket use, frequency of lottery ticket use, expenditure on scratch tickets, and expenditure on lottery tickets). Almost one-third of the sample was found to be at some level of gambling-related risk due to their use of lotteries products. Younger respondents, males, current smokers, e-cigarette users, and those who purchase scratch tickets more frequently were more likely to report problematic use of lotteries products. Policy makers should enact strategies to prevent and reduce harms resulting from lotteries products, especially among the identified at-risk groups.
... Content analyses of gambling advertising narratives from different countries conducted under responsible marketing perspectives have resulted in an ever-expanding list of themes identified in the advertisements that could induce irresponsible gambling. These themes include fun, excitement and entertainment (McMullan & Miller, 2009); adventure (Thomas et al., 2015); humour (Korn et al., 2005;Sklar & Derevensky, 2011;Thomas et al., 2015); normalization of gambling (McMullan & Miller, 2009); ease of use (Gainsbury et al., 2016); glamour (Gainsbury et al., 2016); aligning gambling and sport (Gainsbury et al., 2016;McMullan & Miller, 2008;Sklar & Derevensky, 2011); friendship (Deans et al., 2016) and masculinity (Sproston, Hanley, Brook, Hing, & Gainsbury, 2015). ...
... Content analyses of gambling advertising narratives from different countries conducted under responsible marketing perspectives have resulted in an ever-expanding list of themes identified in the advertisements that could induce irresponsible gambling. These themes include fun, excitement and entertainment (McMullan & Miller, 2009); adventure (Thomas et al., 2015); humour (Korn et al., 2005;Sklar & Derevensky, 2011;Thomas et al., 2015); normalization of gambling (McMullan & Miller, 2009); ease of use (Gainsbury et al., 2016); glamour (Gainsbury et al., 2016); aligning gambling and sport (Gainsbury et al., 2016;McMullan & Miller, 2008;Sklar & Derevensky, 2011); friendship (Deans et al., 2016) and masculinity (Sproston, Hanley, Brook, Hing, & Gainsbury, 2015). ...
Sports betting advertising has arguably permeated contemporary sport consumption in many countries. Advertisements build narratives that represent situations and characters that normalize betting behaviour and raise public concerns regarding their detrimental effect on vulnerable groups. Adopting a grounded theory approach, the present study examined a British sample of sports betting advertisements (N = 102) from 2014 to 2016. The analysis revealed that individual themes aligned in a single core narrative, constructing a dual persuasive strategy of sports betting advertising: (i) to reduce the perceived risk involved in betting (with themes such as betting with friends, free money offers, humour, or the use of celebrities) while (ii) enhancing the perceived control of bettors (including themes of masculinity and sport knowledge). In addition, new technological features of sports betting platforms (e.g. live in-play betting) were used by advertisers to build narratives in which the ability to predict a sports outcome was overlapped by the ability of bettors to use such platforms, equalizing the ease of betting with the ease of winning. Based on the data analysed, it was concluded that the construction of a magnified idea of control in sports betting advertising is a cause for concern that requires close regulatory scrutiny.
... In turn, how might these processes highlight the audience segments that have the most potential to be influenced by these gambling marketing practices? Existing descriptive studies on the content of gambling marketing more broadly have shown similar trends to those seen in alcohol and tobacco marketing, with advertising emphasising glamour and excitement, and exaggerating the associated social benefits of the uptake of gambling practices [45][46][47][48]. Researchers specifically examining the marketing of sports wagering have suggested that positioning with sport provides the wagering industry with an immediate alignment with an activity that is both socially and culturally valued in communities [23,24,26,[49][50][51]. ...
... The notion that winning money via gambling is easy and life-changing [46]. ...
Background
Since 2008, Australia has seen the rapid emergence of marketing for online and mobile sports wagering. Previous research from other areas of public health, such as tobacco and alcohol, has identified the range of appeal strategies these industries used to align their products with culturally valued symbols. However, there is very limited research that has investigated the tactics the sports wagering industry uses within marketing to influence the consumption of its products and services.
Method
This study consisted of a mixed method interpretive content analysis of 85 sports wagering advertisements from 11 Australian and multinational wagering companies. Advertisements were identified via internet searches and industry websites. A coding framework was applied to investigate the extent and nature of symbolic appeal strategies within advertisements.
Results
Ten major appeal strategies emerged from this analysis. These included sports fan rituals and behaviours; mateship; gender stereotypes; winning; social status; adventure, thrill and risk; happiness; sexualised imagery; power and control; and patriotism. Symbols relating to sports fan rituals and behaviours, and mateship, were the most common strategies used within the advertisements.
Discussion/Conclusions
This research suggests that the appeal strategies used by the sports wagering industry are similar to those strategies adopted by other unhealthy commodity industries. With respect to gambling, analysis revealed that strategies are clearly targeted to young male sports fans. Researchers and public health practitioners should seek to better understand the impact of marketing on the normalisation of sports wagering for this audience segment, and implement strategies to prevent gambling harm.
... Gambling has become widely viewed as a socially acceptable form of recreation (Strucki & Rihs-Middle, 2007). According to motivational theory of gambling which comprises of five motivational dimensions namely: the day dream of hitting the jackpot and transforming one's life; social rewards; intellectual challenge; mood change induced by playing; and the fundamental motive for all gambling, the chance of winning, integrates the wide variety of motives individuals have for gambling and makes it possible to understand the specific appeal of gambling relative to the other leisure activities ( Binde, 2009c;McMullan & Miller, 2009). ...
In an attempt to uncover and address African cultural factors precipitating lotto patronage among youths, this study investigated roles of African cultural factors in lotto patronage. A total of one hundred and twenty-four comprising 119 males and 5 fameless, between the ages of 16-43 years, with a mean age of 26.21 and standard deviation of 1.76, sampled using purposive and available sampling techniques. All residing in Achara layout, Enugu south metropolis of Enugu State. A 13-item questionnaire designed by the researchers was used as the research instrument. Cross sectional survey design was adopted, while Chi-Square was used to analyze the scores obtained from the participants. The findings revealed that there are strong significant influence of people’s views of parental pressure on their children to get rich and appear like others (x 2 = 68.26 P <.001);prestige accorded to the rich by the society (x 2 = 54.22, P < .001), societal expectations to acquire wealth by all means in other to belong to high class (x 2 = 20.16, P<.001), accolades given to the rich by the society while displaying money at functions (x 2 = 11.64, P < .001), the urge amongst the youths to live flamboyant lives (x 2 = 71.26, P <.001), trying to meet up with family and friends needs (x 2 = 14.22, P < .001), the zeal to acquire properties (x 2 = 77.44, P < .001), the urge to appear flashy and rich amongst the family members (x 2 = 9.33, P < .01), and unemployment (x2 = 8.26, P <.001). The zeal to acquire properties had the highest coefficient (x2 = 77.44, P < .001) and as such proven to be strongest African cultural factor that promotes lotto patronage, while unemployment yielded least contributor of lotto patronage. It was therefore recommended that there is need to change views of those African cultural factors especially the zeal African youths have to acquire properties which sometimes
... The increasing sophistication of marketing has influenced the content of material, often making it especially appealing to young people, as with the appeal to constructs of sports-specific knowledge, skill, masculine prowess and even fan loyalty (McGee, 2020). A content analysis of Canadian lottery advertisements found that most ads portrayed positive emotions and outcomes such as excitement, thrill, winning, humour (McMullan and Miller, 2009). Pitt et al. identified a range of strategies used within sports betting advertising that may specifically appeal to young people, including music, colours, voiceovers, humour and characters and celebrities . ...
Around the world, children are being exposed to intensive marketing for gambling products. This normalizes perceptions that gambling is essentially a harmless form of entertainment, despite mounting evidence of the harms it causes. Young people and their parents are supportive of strategies to protect children from being exposed to gambling marketing. Yet existing regulatory efforts are inconsistent and inadequate, and have not protected children from exposure to the many forms of marketing now being developed and exploited by the gambling industry. We outline existing knowledge about strategies used by the gambling industry to market its products, with a specific focus on the potential impact of gambling marketing on young people. We provide a definition of gambling marketing and outline the different forms of promotion that are currently used to market gambling, current regulatory responses, and the impact of marketing on children and young people. We then argue that a comprehensive public health approach to gambling is urgently required, which must include effective action to limit the influence of marketing for gambling products, while recognizing that it is never possible to insulate children entirely from their reach.
... only 5.9% of respondents reported more difficulty adhering to limits online (Wood & Griffiths, 2015). Other scholars have noted lottery advertising increases urges to gamble among treatment seeking gamblers (Hing et al., 2014), and that such advertisements are misleading and are counterproductive to harm prevention efforts (McMullan & Miller, 2009). Despite these and other findings, there are no studies that expressly evaluate the effectiveness of RG programs or self-exclusion or limit-setting options prescribed by regulators or imposed by operators for lottery products. ...
The lottery is the most widely available form of legal gambling in the US. However, there is relatively little work in promoting responsible gambling strategies by lottery providers. The current study applies five evidence-based responsible gambling strategies, to the responsible gambling information made available on 46 state lottery websites. The study employed a content analysis of the public-facing websites. The study found that a minority of the state lottery sites provided readily available information to the public for each of five strategies. Responsible gambling information was limited in most cases with several notable and informative exceptions. Findings are discussed in the context of public health education and harm reduction approaches in the provision of gambling products. The responsible gambling framework is premised on the notion of well-informed participants. Poor integration of responsible gambling strategies for the most widely available form of gambling points to the shortcomings of this framework in practice. Lottery operators should strive to increase their adoption of a greater range of responsible gambling approaches and increase the visibility of relevant information for potential participants.
... Examining sports betting television ads in Great Britain and Spain, Hibai Lopez-Gonzalez, Frederic Guerrero-Solé and Mark D. Griffiths 2017) also find that the ads mainly feature males, and that the women who do appear do not interact with each other but remain passive. Similar patterns of gender stereotypification is found in studies by Samantha L. Thomas, et al. 2015), as well as an overwhelming dominance of male characters and voices in betting ads Delthia Miller 2008, John L. McMullan andDelthia Miller 2009;Milner Lisa, Milner Lisa, et al. 2013). ...
This study brings together an interest in contemporary gambling advertising, national regulatory impacts on such advertising, and the ways in which gender, in combination with ethnicity, operate in such advertising. The paper's aim is to explore the interplay between state and self-regulations of gambling advertising and the concrete design of these advertisements in Sweden. More to the point, it explores how the "moderation" regulation in the Swedish Gambling Act (from 2019), as well as industry principles of non-stereotypical gender advertising, impact on the ways in which gambling ads are multimodally designed and organized. The results show that women are explicitly targeted by using both masculine and feminine semiotic strategies, albeit in a "mod-erate" way. The male market is addressed using stereotypically masculine framings, but without aggressively masculine or macho-like codes. The analysis further exposes that current regulations only partly cover other potential problems in ad design such as ethnic stereotyping. It is argued that the law's demand for moderation in advertising may backfire as a strategy to protect people from the harmful effects of gambling. This because it promotes moderate narratives and moderate gender representations that mimic ordinary practices, settings and lifestyles that appear highly normalised (and thus risk-free). ARTICLE HISTORY
... Moreover, while state-sponsored lottery gambling is often regarded as just another harmless consumer product (Borch 2012), it is advertised deliberately to appeal directly to young people (McMullan and Miller 2009), and is indulged in, often illegally, by the majority of minors (Felsher et al. 2004). Participation in national lotteries has also been linked to gambling addiction (Guryan and Kearney 2010), the crowding-out of productive investment (Dorn et al. 2015), higher suicide rates , and to increasing the likelihood that children of lottery gamblers will develop gambling problems in later life (Felsher et al. 2004). ...
This study offers both the first systematic investigation of the relationship between the five-factor personality model and general (ostensibly non-problem) lottery gambling, and the first application of Thompson and Prendergast’s (2013) bidimensional model of luck beliefs to gambling behavior. Cross-sectional analyses (N = 844) indicate the bidimensional model of luck beliefs significantly accounts for variance in lottery gambling that is discrete from and greater than that of the five-factor personality model. Moreover, the broad pattern of relationships we find between presumably harmless state-sponsored lottery gambling and both personality and luck beliefs tend to parallel those found in studies of problem gambling, suggesting implications for quality of life and public policy in relation to lottery gambling.
... Further research is needed to examine how, specifically, the actionprecursor stages contribute to actual gambling behaviours, as well as to uncover other protective factors, along the spectrum of behaviourchange models, that assist non-gamblers and non-problem gamblers in maintaining healthy gambling practices. For example, future studies may seek to explore the reasons why gamblers find reduced risk and cash back inducements more attention-grabbing/interesting/appealing, in the context of other cognitive biases and/or other risk factors (e.g., McMullan and Miller, 2009;Schottler Consulting, 2012), perhaps by using a qualitative or mixed-methods approach. While recent research supports the findings of the current study (Rockloff et al., 2019), which is perhaps also reflected in the frequency with which wagering operators offer reduced risk and cash back inducements (Hing et al., 2017a), future research should also look to confirm whether these inducement types remain to be the most attention-grabbing/interesting/appealing when the wider context in which these are presented is manipulated (e.g., in terms of colours, sounds, when the offer is presented within the advertisement, etc.; see also Lopez-Gonzalez et al., 2017b). ...
Recent research has shown an association between the viewing of wagering advertising, which often presents inducements to gamble, and maladaptive sports-betting behaviours; however, the mechanisms underlying the development of the intention to gamble remains relatively understudied. Eye-tracking and tonic electrodermal activity was recorded from 59 participants (including 49 regular gamblers and 10 non-gamblers), while they watched a series of advertisements. Following each advertisement, participants were asked to rate how likely they would be to take up the offer presented, therein. The number of fixations placed on each offer differed according to the type of inducement shown (p < .001), with reduced risk and cash back inducements being looked at more often than better odds and bonus bet inducements by all groups. Increased electrodermal activity while viewing the advertisements was associated with greater severity of gambling-related harm (p < .001), as well as greater ratings of desire for most advertisements. Rating of desire was, likewise, positively associated with gambling-related harm (p < .001). These results may suggest that, while the offers in gambling advertisements may be looked at by most viewers, unless there in an attendant increase in arousal, it is quite unlikely that these inducements will elicit a desire to gamble. For individuals already at risk of gambling problems, exposure to these advertisements, especially those offering what is perceived to be safer betting options that minimise financial losses, may exacerbate existing harms. Such information may prove useful in guiding industry practice, government regulations, therapeutic interventions, and future research on this topic.
... So-called 'Big Data' methods have the potential to suggest evidence-based policy interventions with unprecedented levels of contextual nuance and sensitivity [59]. For example, at present, lottery advertising is pervasive and often promotes misleading and provocative messages which foster unrealistic attitudes about the benefits of lottery play [60]-and these messages are demonstrated to sustain and/or intensify established gambling habits [61]. The present results suggest that affective predictors of gambling can be measured through social media, and could possibly be used to inform more precisely targeted interventions promoting responsible gambling. ...
Fluctuations in mood states are driven by unpredictable outcomes in daily life but also appear to drive consequential behaviors such as risk-taking. However, our understanding of the relationships between unexpected outcomes, mood, and risk-taking behavior has relied primarily upon constrained and artificial laboratory settings. Here we examine, using naturalistic datasets, how real-world unexpected outcomes predict mood state changes observable at the level of a city, in turn predicting changes in gambling behavior. By analyzing day-to-day mood language extracted from 5.2 million location-specific and public Twitter posts or ‘tweets’, we examine how real-world ‘prediction errors’—local outcomes that deviate positively from expectations—predict day-to-day mood states observable at the level of a city. These mood states in turn predicted increased per-person lottery gambling rates, revealing how interplay between prediction errors, moods, and risky decision-making unfolds in the real world. Our results underscore how social media and naturalistic datasets can uniquely allow us to understand consequential psychological phenomena.
... The same is true in the case of educational initiatives, wherein they must be aligned with policy. For example, if the gaming industry is permitted to use potentially misleading messages, education should be designed to counter these messages, which can range from suggestions that one's chances of winning are greater than they are, to conveying the impression that all of one's problems will disappear after winning a jackpot (Griffiths, 2005;Korn, Hurson, & Reynolds, 2005;McMullan & Miller, 2008, 2009a, 2009b. Policy initiatives should clearly state what the gaming industry can and cannot say in its advertisements. ...
The purpose of this research and development project was to describe the complete gambling experience and to develop best practices for the prevention of problem gambling among older adults (55 years and over) in Ontario. The challenging task of developing best practices involved integrated research and development, as well as knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) throughout the project. We developed a large, multi-organizational, multidisciplinary research team, as well as prevention and treatment work groups comprising investigators, KTE personnel, knowledge users, and service providers from key stakeholder organizations. Research dealing specifically with older adults is scarce; thus, research from other age groups was also drawn upon for this report. We incorporated a variety of types of evidence, including empirical, theoretical, expert opinion, practice-based, and normative. To obtain feedback ahead of finalizing the best practices, we disseminated preliminary best practices to key informants and other knowledge users and service providers. This feedback was incorporated into the current document. This paper presents the first set of evidence-based best practices for the prevention of problem gambling among older adults, including evidence sources, commentary, and references. We hope that these best practices help enhance prevention programs, services, and practices. In addition, we hope that this study prompts future research that examines areas that are currently insufficiently researched and helps provoke a dialogue that will lead to a broader knowledge base to guide prevention policies and practices directed at this growing segment of the population. © 2019, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. All rights reserved.
... Jatkossa on tärkeää tutkia suomalaisten rahapelikulutusta paikallisesti ja panostaa ehkäiseviin toimenpiteisiin jo varhaisessa vaiheessa eriarvoisuuden ja syrjäytymisen estämiseksi. Tämä voidaan tehdä rajoittamalla rahapelien tarjontaa, suunnittelemalla pelipaikkojen sijoittelua ja valvomalla mainontaa ja markkinointia siten, ettei se ruoki liiallista pelaamista tai "äkki-rikastumisen" haaveita (McMullan & Miller 2009) erityisesti niissä väestöryhmissä, joissa ongelmat ovat jo kasaantuneet. ...
... People also display the endowment effect: they value things they own more than the same things if they do not own (Kahneman, Knetsch and Thaler, 1991). Cognitive biases of the sort outlined above have also been exploited within the commercial advertising to sell lottery tickets (McMullan and Miller, 2009 -Bulman (1978) found that winning a jackpot does not produce longer term happiness. They attributed this to the stresses associated with the large changes in life style and the increased responsibilities arising from such a win. ...
People who appear to believe in the hot hand expect winning streaks to continue whereas those suffering from the gamblers’ fallacy unreasonably expect losing streaks to reverse. 565,915 sports bets made by 776 online gamblers in 2010 were used for analysis. People who won were more likely to win again whereas those who lost were more likely to lose again. However, selection of safer odds after winning and riskier ones after losing indicates that online sports gamblers expected their luck to reverse: they suffered from the gamblers’ fallacy. By following in the gamblers’ fallacy, they created their own hot hands. Some gamblers consistently outperformed their peers. They also consistently made higher profits or lower losses. They show real expertise. The key of real expertise is the ability to control loss.
... Other gambling advert analyses have also reported findings along such lines. For instance, an average of seven males per commercial, and 84% of male voiceover in television adverts (McMullan and Miller 2008), and 83% of male actors in lottery radio adverts (McMullan and Miller 2009). A number of researchers have noted that sports betting adverts clearly target males, as evidenced by content analysis results from adverts (Deans et al. 2016), as well as from self-reports from sports bettors in focus groups (Sproston et al. 2015), and individual interviews (Thomas et al. 2012;. ...
The pervasiveness of sports betting marketing and advertising is arguably normalising betting behaviour among increasingly larger groups of population. In their adverts, bookmakers represent characters and situations that conventionalise betting and promote specific behaviours while ignoring others. The present study examined a sample of British and Spanish sports betting television adverts (N = 135) from 2014 to 2016 to understand how bettors and betting are being represented. Using content analysis, 31 different variables grouped into seven broad categories were assessed, including general information about the advert, the characters and situations represented, the identification of the characters with sports, the use of online betting, the co-representation of gambling along other risky behaviours such as eating junk food and drinking alcohol, the amount of money wagered, and other variables such as the representation of free bets, humour, and celebrities. The results showed a male-dominant betting representation with no interaction between women. Typically, bettors were depicted surrounded by people but isolated in their betting, emphasising the individual consumption practice that mobile betting promotes. In-play betting was observed in almost half of the adverts. A little empirical evidence indicates that betting while watching sport in betting adverts is associated with emotionally charged situations such as celebrations and/or alcohol drinking. Bettors were typically depicted staking small amounts of money with large potential returns, implying high risk bets. Overall, the study provides preliminary evidence in understanding the social representation of betting behaviour by bookmakers and critiques the problematic consequences of such representation from a public health perspective.
... The nature of gambling advertising is also of concern, as some of it is clearly misleading. Typical examples are lottery advertisements that suggest the chances of winning are better than they actually are, or that a person's overall wellbeing will be substantially better after winning a jackpot (Griffiths, 2005b;Korn, Hurson, and Reynolds, 2005;McMullan & Miller, 2008, 2009a, 2009b. Many lotteries also have websites that provide players with information about the frequencies of winning lottery numbers, which deceptively conveys the impression that useful information might be gleaned from this data. ...
The past 15 years has seen a considerable amount of interest and effort being put into developing strategies to prevent problem gambling. Unfortunately, the development, implementation, and evaluation of most of these initiatives has been a haphazard process. Most have been put in place because they ‘seemed like good ideas’ and/or were being used in other jurisdictions, rather than having demonstrated scientific efficacy or being derived from a good understanding of effective practices in prevention.The primary purpose of the present document is to help change this state of affairs. More specifically, by: Proposing an etiological framework for understanding how problem gambling develops based on the available evidence and drawing from established models of addictive behaviour. Comprehensively evaluating the effectiveness of the various initiatives that have been used around the world to prevent problem gambling based on their demonstrated efficacy and/or their similarity to initiatives that are empirically effective in preventing other addictive behaviour. Based on this etiological framework and this critical review of the research, identifying current ‘best practices’ for the prevention of problem gambling.
... Research from other areas of public health such as alcohol has shown that marketing which reinforces alcohol as a fun, social activity is likely to reinforce children's normative assumptions about drinking [66,67]. As has been demonstrated in other gambling studies [34,68,69], marketing of gambling as a socially acceptable behaviour has created a perception that gambling was "easy" and "fun" and that sports betting was different from other forms of gambling because it was based on skill. In addition, the research has shown that specific forms of marketing, such as inducements, may impact on children's gambling attitudes and consumption intentions, particularly for children who were unsure about whether they would gamble when they were older. ...
Background
Harmful gambling is a public health issue that affects not only adults but also children. With the development of a range of new gambling products, and the marketing for these products, children are potentially exposed to gambling more than ever before. While there have been many calls to develop strategies which protect children from harmful gambling products, very little is known about the factors that may influence children’s attitudes towards these products. This study aimed to explore children’s gambling attitudes and consumption intentions and the range of consumer socialisation factors that may influence these attitudes and behaviours. Methods
Children aged 8 to 16 years old (n = 48) were interviewed in Melbourne, Australia. A semi-structured interview format included activities with children and open-ended questions. We explored children’s perceptions of the popularity of different gambling products, their current engagement with gambling, and their future gambling consumption intentions. We used thematic analysis to explore children’s narratives with a focus on the range of socialising factors that may shape children’s gambling attitudes and perceptions. ResultsThree key themes emerged from the data. First, children’s perceptions of the popularity of different products were shaped by what they had seen or heard about these products, whether through family activities, the media (and in particular marketing) of gambling products, and/or the alignment of gambling products with sport. Second, children’s gambling behaviours were influenced by family members and culturally valued events. Third, many children indicated consumption intentions towards sports betting. This was due to four key factors: (1) the alignment of gambling with culturally valued activities; (2) their perceived knowledge about sport; (3) the marketing and advertising of gambling products (and in particular sports betting); and (4) the influence of friends and family. Conclusions
This study indicates that there is a range of socialisation factors, particularly family and the media (predominantly via marketing), which may be positively shaping children’s gambling attitudes, behaviours and consumption intentions. There is a need for governments to develop effective policies and regulations to reduce children’s exposure to gambling products and ensure they are protected from the harms associated with gambling.
... Individuals in Australia experience considerable exposure to commercial gambling advertising (Dyall, Tse, & Kingi, 2009;McMullan & Miller, 2009;McMullan, Miller, & Perrier, 2012) with low awareness of professional help services among gamblers (Gainsbury, Hing, & Suhonen, 2014). Recent research advocates the use of fear appeals to counteract promotions of harmful activities, such as gambling (Munoz et al., 2010;Muñoz et al., 2013) and current research explored the potential benefits fear appeals on help-seeking intentions among various segments of Australian at-risk gamblers. ...
With a sample of Australian at-risk gamblers, this research examines the impact of gender and individual difference in experiential avoidance (cognitive and emotional suppression) on the processing of fear appeals. Study 1, through thematic analysis, explores fear appeal perceptions among at-risk gamblers. The results identify that relevant threats, such as social and psychological, should be integrated into fear inducing advertising stimuli. Study 2 uses multi-group comparisons in structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the robustness of the revised protection motivation model (RPMM) in predicting the effectiveness of fear appeals to induce help-seeking intentions in at-risk gamblers. This research examines the boundary conditions of the RPMM through the moderating roles of gender and experiential avoidance. The results provide evidence that fear partially mediates the impact of perceived susceptibility on help-seeking intentions in low experiential avoiders; whereas high experimental avoiders resist fear elicitation. Furthermore, evoked fear does not lead to help-seeking intentions in male at-risk gamblers. In female at-risk gamblers, while fear prompts help-seeking intentions, perceived susceptibility (i.e., probability of harm) does not translate to behavioral intentions via fear. For both genders and low and high experiential avoiders, cognitive appraisals of perceived susceptibility significantly and positively impact help-seeking intentions. This research demonstrates the unique roles of gender and experiential avoidance on fear appeal effectiveness in at-risk gamblers.
... The marketing messages of commercial gambling and the design of gambling equipment (e.g., EGMs and lottery tickets) may have a similar influence, as they often make use of images and symbols to communicate a message that gambling is fun, exciting and can make people rich (McMullan & Miller, 2009;Nicki, Gallagher, & Cormier, 2007;. Some gambling games may be represented as having qualities that make them especially attractive for specific sociocultural groups (e.g., luxurious casinos for the rich and unpretentious bingo parlors for low income earners). ...
The Conceptual Framework of Harmful Gambling (the “Framework”) is designed to achieve three key objectives, namely to:
1. Reflect the current state of knowledge (across disciplines and existing models) as it relates to factors impacting harmful gambling. While there is some discussion of linkages among factors, this publication does not provide an in-depth review of the such dependencies or interactions;
2. Assist treatment providers, policy makers, regulators, and the public to better understand the complex dynamics involved in harmful gambling in order to enable better informed decision-making; and
3. Guide the development of future research programs and identify areas where research is most needed.
... Adolescents in this study interpreted the messages about sports wagering, as being easy, accessible, and fun. Research from other gambling product advertising (such as lotteries) have also shown that the messages of winning and that gambling is easy, are recalled and viewed positively by children and adolescents [47,48]. Derevensky and colleagues (2010) described that these types of promotions are influential in young people's reasons for wanting to engage in gambling [48]. ...
Background:
Harmful gambling is a significant public health issue. Alongside the rapid diversification of gambling products, are rapid increases in the marketing for specific types of gambling products, such as online wagering. While concern has been raised about the impact of gambling promotions during sporting matches on the gambling beliefs and behaviours of adolescents, very little research has explored adolescents' and parents' attitudes towards the marketing of gambling products within sport.
Methods:
A qualitative study was conducted with 59 family groups comprising of at least one parent and one adolescent (14-18 years old) in Victoria, Australia. Parents and adolescents were interviewed separately and asked questions relating to their gambling attitudes and behaviours. They were then brought together, and advertising reception techniques were utilised to prompt discussions about the marketing of gambling during sport. A thematic approach to analysis was used, constantly comparing similarities and differences between and across groups.
Results:
Three main themes emerged. First, was initiation of sport as a platform for the promotion of gambling. Adolescents perceived that the use of embedded promotions (for example during the match) and the use of athletes in gambling promotions were significant mechanisms for creating an alignment between gambling companies and sporting teams and codes. Second, was the influence of marketing messages in creating a perception that gambling was always accessible, and was an integral part of the sporting experience. Third was the impact of marketing messages on adolescent's discourses about sport. Parents described that they had noticed that wagering, and 'odds' discussions, had become embedded in adolescents narratives about sporting matches.
Discussion and conclusions:
Gambling marketing during sport has significantly increased. While the gambling industry states that it does not aim to intentionally target young people, adolescents are increasingly aware of the relationship between gambling and sport. Future research should explore the impacts and influence of gambling promotions during sport on the gambling attitudes and consumption intentions of adolescents. Effective public health policy is needed to develop comprehensive regulatory frameworks to protect young people from unnecessary exposure to the marketing for this potentially harmful adult product.
... funnene i kapittel 6). Funnene er også i tråd med studier som indikerer at reklame for pengespill ofte retter seg spesifikt mot yngre (McMullan & Miller, 2009; Slater, Tiggemann, Hawkins, & Werchon, 2012). ...
During autumn 2015 researchers at the University of Bergen conducted a survey concerning gambling and video game problems in the general adult population of Norway. The survey was conducted on behalf of the Norwegian Gaming Authority. In all, 14,000 persons (gross sample), aged 16–74 years, were randomly selected from the National Population Registry of Norway and invited to participate. All received a paper-based questionnaire. A total of 5,485 valid answers (net sample) were received. After removing persons with wrong addresses, or for reasons of illness, death or being abroad etc. at the time of the survey, a response rate of 40.8 percent was obtained. Up to two reminders were sent. A total of 57.9 percent had participated in gambling during the previous 12 months which did not reflect any significant change since the previous survey conducted in 2013.
To assess the prevalence of gambling problems, the Canadian Problem Gambling Index was administered. Based on the total score obtained, the respondents were divided into the following four categories: non-problem gambler (score = 0), low risk gambler (score = 1-2), moderate risk gambler (score = 3-7), and problem gambler (score = 8-27).
The results showed that 7.7 percent of the adult population could be categorized as low risk gamblers, 2.3 percent as moderate risk gamblers and 0.9 percent as problem gamblers, respectively. Compared to the previous population based survey about gambling and gaming problems in Norway (conducted during autumn 2013) no significant change in the prevalence of gambling problems was detected. The current prevalence of gambling related problems is somewhat lower compared to national surveys conducted between 2005 and 2010, albeit somewhat higher than the prevalence reported in national surveys conducted in 1997 and 2002.
Compared to international surveys the prevalence of gambling related problems in Norway is overall relatively low. In terms of the Nordic context, the prevalence of gambling problems seems to somewhat higher or at the same level as found in our neighbouring countries.
In the present study we found that the probability of being a moderate risk- or problem gambler was elevated in males, people with low education, confirmed unemployment/disability pension/rehabilitation/work assessment allowance, in subjects with place of birth outside Norway (Africa, Asia or South and Central-America) and among those who had participated in video games during the last 6 months.
When it comes to participation in different gambling activities, the majority of gamblers reported having participated in scratch cards (non Internet-based) and numbers games. Males had participated more frequently than females in most types of games. Bingo in bingo premises was the only type of gambling where women participated more frequently than males. Younger gamblers participated overall more frequently than elderly in typically novel types of gambling activities (typically internet based) whereas older gamblers participated more frequently than younger gamblers in more “traditional games” such as horse betting, soccer pools (not odds games) and numbers games. Those who scored 3 or more on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index participated more frequently in all types of games compared to those with lower scores. Internet based casino gambling and internet based bingo (not Norsk Tipping) comprised the gambling categories with the highest proportion of gamblers reporting problems controlling/restricting their gambling behavior. In terms of overrepresentation of moderate risk gamblers and problem gamblers in games played by relatively many, this was especially pronounced for casino games, internet poker and odds-games.
In all, 29.2 percent of the gamblers had gambled via the Internet during the last 12 months. This occurred most frequently among males, younger subjects and among those with a score of 3 or more on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index. Most of those who gambled via the Internet used a lap-top or a mobile phone for this purpose.
A vast majority of all respondents had been exposed to gambling related advertising during the previous 12 months. Young people reported greater exposure than older subjects. Those who scored 3 or more on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index reported more gambling related advertising exposure than those with lower scores. Compared to the population based survey about gambling and gaming problems in Norway in 2013 the
current survey showed a significant increase in exposure to gambling related advertising on TV and on the internet, and a decrease in exposure to gambling related advertising in newspapers and shops.
It was found that gambling related advertising had a considerable effect in terms of informing about games and game operators. Gambling related advertising was reported to influence gambling behavior and gambler’s urge to gamble to a certain degree, but risky gambling was reported only to a small degree as having been triggered by gambling related advertising. Overall, men, younger persons and persons with gambling related problems reported having been more influenced by gambling related advertising than their respective
counterparts. This brings up to date a discussion concerning regulation of gambling advertising. Attitudes towards structural regulation of gambling were overall relatively neutral. An upper loss limit, set either by the player him/herself or by the game and continuous feedback about losses comprised the three structural regulation proposals which were most favorably evaluated. Women, younger people and persons with a score of 3 or more on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index were more positive to structural regulation of gambling than were men, older persons and persons with lower scores on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index. Respondents born in Norway were less positive to structural regulation of gambling than persons born outside Norway (Africa, Asia, South or Central-America), especially related to feedback about duration of the gambling session and self-set limits related to maximal losses.
Several potential gambling motives were listed in the questionnaire. About 60 percent of the gamblers reported “for fun” and “to win” as relevant gambling motives. Those with a score of 3 or more on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index reported more frequently all motives than those with lower scores except “for fun”, “don’t know” and “other motives. The motive “to support a good cause” was more frequently reported by those with a score of 0-2 on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index compared to those with higher scores.
The frequency of different psychosomatic symptoms reported generally increased proportionately with gambling category (non-problem gambler, low risk gambler, moderate risk gambler, problem gambler).
In all, 38.5 percent had played video games during the last six months. This proportion had not changed compared to the previous population based survey about gambling and gaming problems. More males than females and more younger than older respondents had played. Excessive video game playing was assessed with the Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents. Based on the data from this scale, 96.7 percent were categorized as normal video game players (including those who had not played), 2.8 percent were categorized
as video game problem players and 0.5 percent were categorized as video game addicts. These frequencies had not changed significantly since the previous population based survey about gambling and gaming problems. Being categorized as either a video game problem player or a video game addict was related to male gender, low age, and being born outside Norway (Africa, Asia, South or Central-America). Those of the gamers who were categorized as problem gamers or addicted had during the last 6 months spent more money on purchasing and upgrading video games and had staked more money on the outcome of video games they themselves participated in, compared to normal video game players. Those who were problem video game players/addicted reported overall more frequently psychosomatic symptoms compared to the normal video game players/non-players. A total of 42.8 percent of gamers had played via social media. This was most frequently reported by females and younger subjects.
The later the wave (first wave, first and second reminder) the participants responded to, the higher was the reported prevalence of problems related to both gambling and gaming. Thus, based in extrapolation there is reason to assume that the real problem prevalences are somewhat higher that those reported in this report.
... En el cuarto trimestre de 2014 había 356.000 jugadores activos, un 20% más que el año anterior (Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego, 2014). Sin embargo, a pesar de la aceptación social que existe hacia los juegos de azar, se trata de una actividad de riesgo: de hecho, en algunos países, se considera un problema grave de salud pública (McMullan y Miller, 2009;Messerlian, Derevensky y Gupta, 2004). Según Carbonell (2014), aunque hay muchos tipos de juegos practicados por niños y adultos, sólo es potencialmente patológico el que implica apuestas y en el que, por tanto, existe la posibilidad de ganar o perder dinero. ...
This article examines the online gambling advertising regulations in Spain currently in effect to assess the actual protection of underage youth. In recent years, online gambling among youth has increased. Through advertising, online gambling companies incite and encourage an involvement that can be harmful for vulnerable audiences. Some studies have demonstrated that advertising influences youths’ assessment of gambling by increasing its appeal. We demonstrate that the shortcomings of the legal framework in force results in effective vulnerability of minors. We claim that society should seek to implement a regulatory framework to protect children from the risk of developing an addiction.
Lotteries have become the most popular form of gambling worldwide since (re-)legalization and expansion began in the 1960s and 70s. Lottery jackpots have increased significantly in national lotteries in the last twenty years, and large lottery jackpots stimulate greater ticket purchases. The discussion locates contemporary state lotteries in relation to economic structures and ideologies in which the state itself participates, while providing justification for the lottery form. The (re-)distributional and circulatory form of lotteries is theorized as in tension with (neo-)liberal economic ideology and an individualist imaginary. The analysis draws upon the work of Emile Durkheim and other classical sociologists. In particular, lotteries are treated as examples of what Durkheim termed “institutions” and “collective representations.”
The legalization of gambling and cannabis and the transformation of these practices/substances into consumer markets are processes of state legitimation, naturalization, and (re)formation in Canada. This article examines the moral-cultural transformation of gambling and cannabis over the last 50 years and analyzes these transformations in terms of state-culture dynamics. Where lotteries were legalized in the context of the welfare state, the expansion of gambling beyond lotteries in the 1990s has occurred as the federal state ceded jurisdiction of gambling to the provinces. The consequence has been the direct role of the provinces in the creation of gambling markets. Notwithstanding the monopolization of cannabis by some provinces, the opening of cannabis to private industry (e.g., sales) has occurred relatively quickly. In its central role in market making, the state, paradoxically, appears to disappear. However, the legalization and expansion of gambling and cannabis represent an increased positioning of the state at the nexus of civic and consumer cultures. State formation around consumption of gambling and cannabis centers on state entrepreneurialism and depends on retaining, yet reinventing, notions of harm with a shift from a generalized morality of nation and national spirit to individual risk calculation.
While the relationship between own health and subjective well-being is well documented, evidence is limited regarding the relationship of the latter with respect to the health of a family member. Recent models of human capital formation link human development to the stability of the home environment and to parental health. Using a unique longitudinal data from four developing countries, we extend this strand of the literature by investigating the role of family health on the well-being of adolescents. Our results show that family illness negatively affects subjective well-being. This effect is stronger for health problems of siblings than parents. We explore potential mechanisms and find that the most significant transmission channel for parental health is the shared social environment. The effect of the illness of siblings appears to be mostly driven by psychological factors.
School burnout is a new and emerging trend that presents a risk for student learning, successful educational and occupational transitions, and overall well-being. School engagement, on the other hand, leads to positive outcomes. This paper reviews recent research conducted in Finland examining school burnout and engagement during the major educational transitions from elementary school to further educational tracks, and from high school and beyond. Of special interest are the different pathways and profiles of school burnout, and the role of various personal and contextual antecedents in both burnout and engagement The studies reviewed here show that, during these major educational transitions, the school-burnout continuum is often associated with indicators of ill-being (e.g., depressive symptoms), and negatively associated with wellbeing (e.g., life satisfaction). The conclusion drawn from the evidence is that school burnout may be detrimental to the development of adolescents in multiple ways, and it could impair their future career development.
Digital gambling advertising is omnipresent nowadays and leads young adults easily and directly to online gambling websites, challenging their self-control and inducing impulsive behaviors. The current study examines how including betting odds in digital gambling advertising for sports betting affects young adults’ gambling intentions and gambling attitudes toward sports betting and whether positive affective reactions toward the advertising can explain this. In addition, the moderating roles of gender and advertising format are investigated. The results of a two (advertising strategy: no odds advertising versus odds advertising) by two (digital advertising format: social media ad versus online banner) between-subjects experiment among 150 young adults (18 to 25 years) show that odds advertising (compared to an ad not including odds) led to more positive affective reactions toward the sports betting advertisement, which subsequently positively affected both gambling intentions and gambling attitudes. However, these results were only true for men and not for women. Finally, there was no moderating role of digital advertising format.
Watching sport and attending a sport event are generally considered popular, enjoyable, and valorized activities in our society. The last few years have seen a development in digital technologies (i.e. smartphones, tablets, computers), which now offers the possibility to gamble on almost every sport events, at every moment, e.g. before or during a game in play. Moreover, the level of exposure to sports betting advertisements is unprecedented. Promoted by this around-the-clock availability and ubiquity of cues, sports betting and gambling is becoming increasingly popular, in particular in adolescents and young adults, with a growing concern that this population could develop unprecedent levels of gambling-related problems. Our objective here is to elaborate on how the increased popularity of sports betting is currently reframing the way sport is experienced by young fans and student-athletes. After describing current levels of sports betting involvement and related problems among young people, we will review the available evidence documenting the growing normalization and popularity of gambling in sports and its impact on cognitive and affective processes in children and adolescents, including young athletes. The last section focuses on regulation strategies addressing current concerns on the consequences of sports betting in children and adolescents.
This thematic case study explores international, national, and local media coverage of a conflict between Barb Reddick, a rural, working-class, African-Nova Scotian woman, and her nephew over the ownership of a winning ‘Chase the Ace’ lottery ticket. Beginning from general media valuation of lottery winners, and Canadian coverage of the Nova Scotia CTA lottery ‘craze’, we find when Reddick goes off script as loving aunt she is pathologized and degraded in a dramatic reversal from soft to hard news story. Reddick’s habitus and trust in journalists to support her counternarrative became the dramatic content of media spectacle-making – what we call a ‘spectacle of silencing’ – as well as her deviance from Canadian white rurality, and class and gender norms. Rather than mere ‘misrepresentation’ of minorities, we conclude that the dynamics of counternarrative struggle are embedded in reportage itself as spectacle, reproducing the legitimacy and authority of journalistic institutions through a symbolic violence of consensus making.
This research demonstrates a new effect of consumer similarity in a chance context. Six studies show how similarity with previous winners can positively or negatively affect potential participants' perceived likelihood of winning the subsequent independent sweepstakes draw. Attributions of winning outcomes to a personal cause or randomness change potential participants' expectations regarding the sequence of more or less similar winners. When personal attribution is prevalent, exposure to more (vs. less) similar winners causes potential participants to feel they are more likely to win and, as a consequence, judge the sweepstakes as more attractive. This positive effect of similarity is mediated by the expectation of more repetitions of similar winners consistent with the belief that luck can be transferred among similar people. When randomness is presented as the salient cause for winning, though, people's subjective conception of randomness leads them to expect more alternations in the sequence of more and less similar winners, thus prompting a reversal of the similarity effect. That is, they feel less likely to win when the sweepstakes features a more compared to a less similar winner. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Journal of Consumer Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
Gambling is a social behaviour, which is growing worldwide. Gambling availability has really changed since 15 years, inducing a larger exposition of vulnerable people to gambling games and marketing. In France, gambling marketing is not really controlled by authorities. In this article, we aim to stress the importance of gambling exposure due to gambling marketing development and the potential implications for gamblers, especially vulnerable and younger. Health authorities, but also health and social structures have to pay attention to gambling marketing, that could facilitate gambling initiation and repetition, and enhance problem gambling.
Gambling disorder is known to have a negatively detrimental impact on affected individual’s physical and psychological health, social relationships, and finances. Via remote technologies (e.g., Internet, mobile phones, and interactive television), gambling has come out of gambling venues and has brought the potential for online gambling to occur anywhere (e.g., the home, the workplace, and on the move). Alongside the rise of online gambling, online gambling advertising have spread throughout all type of media. In a sample of 201 Spanish university students, the present study explored the perceived influence of online gambling advertising. More specifically it examined the Third-Person Effect (TPE), and its consequences on individuals’ willingness to support censorship or public service advertising. The findings demonstrate that despite the difference on the perception of the effects of online gambling advertising, it scarcely accounts for the behavioural outcomes analysed. On the contrary, awareness of problem gambling and, above all, paternalistic attitudes appear to explain this support.
Gambling disorder is known to have a negatively detrimental impact on affected individual’s physical
and psychological health, social relationships, and finances. Via remote technologies (e.g., Internet,
mobile phones, and interactive television), gambling has come out of gambling venues and has brought
the potential for online gambling to occur anywhere (e.g., the home, the workplace, and on the move).
Alongside the rise of online gambling, online gambling advertising have spread throughout all type
of media. In a sample of 201 Spanish university students, the present study explored the perceived
influence of online gambling advertising. More specifically it examined the Third-Person Effect (TPE),
and its consequences on individuals’ willingness to support censorship or public service advertising.
The findings demonstrate that despite the difference on the perception of the effects of online gambling
advertising, it scarcely accounts for the behavioural outcomes analysed. On the contrary, awareness
of problem gambling and, above all, paternalistic attitudes appear to explain this support.
Les appareils de loterie vidéo (ALV) et la vente de produits de loterie rapportent l’essentiel des profits tirés des jeux de hasard et d’argent (JHA) étatisés au Québec. Il s’agit également des JHA les plus physiquement disponibles dans les milieux de vie de la population montréalaise. Alors que les ALV sont fortement associés à des pratiques de jeu préjudiciables et au trouble de jeu (jeu pathologique), la présence de points de vente de loterie se présente comme un incitatif à la participation aux JHA dans les environnements. Les évidences scientifiques suggèrent que les relations entre l’accessibilité aux ALV et la présence de conséquences négatives sont modulées par des caractéristiques inhérentes aux populations exposées. Nous avons donc établi une cartographie de la distribution spatiale du risque à Montréal à l’aide d’un indice de vulnérabilité aux problèmes de jeu. Nous avons ensuite mis en relation la distribution du risque dans les aires géographiques avec l’accessibilité aux ALV et aux points de vente de loterie par le biais d’analyses statistiques. Les résultats montrent que globalement, à Montréal, l’accessibilité aux ALV est significativement plus importante dans les secteurs géographiques où l’on observe un indice de vulnérabilité aux problèmes de jeu élevé. Les analyses géomatiques ont aussi permis d’établir une cartographie illustrant les secteurs où l’accessibilité aux ALV et l’indice de vulnérabilité aux problèmes de jeu sont les plus élevés. Finalement, plusieurs secteurs combinant vulnérabilité de la population et accessibilité élevée aux ALV sont aussi caractérisés par une présence plus importante de points de vente de loterie.
To theorize the process by which behaviors once regarded as deviant become normalized, this article analyzes the legalization of a state-run lottery in the American state of Massachusetts. Lotteries are an important case to study the dynamism of socially constructed problems as well as the creation of gaming markets because they raise moral, social, and economic concerns associated with all types of gaming with the added dimension of having the state government serving as regulator and proprietor of the wagering. Drawing on newspaper articles and archival records, this article examines mobilization around failed efforts to establish a lottery in Massachusetts in the 1930s and 1950s, followed by the successful legalization of a lottery in the 1970s. Highlighting meaning making collective struggles over the lottery in variable circumstances illuminates the processes by which the perceptions of proprietors of operations, patrons of the games, and the distribution of proceeds shift, ultimately turning what was once an illegal enterprise into a socially accepted state institution. © 2016 Alpha Kappa Delta: The International Sociology Honor Society.
Most of the studies on the determinants of individual gambling behavior rely on cognitive theories. In our study, we argue that, besides cognitive factors, several social factors might play an important role as well. We analyse data from an ad hoc webmail survey conducted on about 2000 undergraduate students enrolled in a large public university in the Northern Italy in the academic year 2012–13. Using a variety of statistical techniques (standard regression models, boosted regression trees and structural equations models), we show that social variables affect both participation in gambling in the past year and latent gambling propensity. In particular, controlling for several proxies for individual cognitive ability and understanding of probability, gambling propensity is positively affected by the degree of gambling in the social surrounding (parents, peers, neighbourhood) and the acceptability of gambling activities to the individual. Moreover, in our sample of college students the role of social factors appears to be larger than that of cognitive factors, and this is consistent across different types of models and specifications.
Early initiation of gambling has been argued to be closely correlated with placing players at higher risk of developing problem gambling behaviour in the future. The vast majority of jurisdictions, including Great Britain, attempts to eliminate minors' access to gambling by making it illegal and by requiring gambling providers to adopt strict age-verification procedures. Despite those measures minors continue to successfully access gambling. This paper demonstrates that British legal framework suffers frommany statutory loopholes. It considers weaknesses in the regulatory offences as well as enforcement deficiencies. It further highlights how the differences between black letter law, political rhetoric and practical application undermine the strength of the prohibition of gambling by minors.
Pathological gambling is a disorder characterized by persistent, recurrent and maladaptive behavior that has serious consequences at a personal, familiar or workplace level. It is a disorder constantly growing which is associated with various psychiatric conditions, underlying maladaptive personality traits and dysfunctional biological aspects. Through a critical review of the literature, this survey seeks to examine the current knowledge about pathological gambling, with respect to prevalence, diagnostic classification and nosographic psychopathological features and specifications, and paths through which it develops. The various etiological hypotheses advanced are also examined and discussed for understanding the occurrence and maintenance of the disease and the different modes of intervention used to treat it.
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
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.
Along with the rapid growth experienced by the gaming industry in the United States has come increasing calls to restrict or ban gambling advertising. To date, little is known about what motivates people to support such restrictions on advertising. However, one recent theory, the third-person effect, offers a possible explanation. The third-person effect states that when confronted with negative messages, people will overestimate the messages' effect on others relative to themselves. Additionally, it suggests that it is this misperception that motivates them to take action against such messages. This study investigates whether a third-person effect occurs for gambling advertising and if this effect is related to pro- censorship attitudes for lotteries and casinos. The results suggest there is a sizable gap between perceptions of the effect of gambling advertising on one's self versus others, and that the perceived effect on others is related to a willingness to restrict such advertising. 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank the staff at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, for facilitating access to and providing the advertisements requested.
This article examines the depiction of gambling in recent films. Often gambling is portrayed either very positively or very negatively. The authors found eight overlapping themes represented in these movies: (1) pathological gambling, (2) the magical skill of the professional gambler, (3) miraculous wins as happy endings, (4) gamblers are suckers, (5) gamblers cheat, (6) gambling is run by organized crime, (7) the casino heist, and (8) gambling as a symbolic backdrop to the story. These themes suggest that the portrayal of gambling in movies has a number of interesting distortions. The discussion centres on how these distortions have an impact on efforts to accurately disseminate information about gambling to the general public.
Synopsis: The technology of electronic media and the art of advertising have combined over the past 60 years to create very powerful tools of influence. These tools have proven to be capable of shaping attitudes, values and behaviors of large numbers of people. This paper explains the power to influence in the context of recent discoveries in brain science. In addition, comments are made about adopting these techniques to promote a public health agenda. I. The Power of Media. In the early 1970s, government and business leaders in Mexico were confronted with a serious problem. The world economy was shifting to an information economy making the ability to read and write more important than ever. At the same time, rates of adult literacy remained stubbornly low in many Mexican workplaces. After several failed initiatives, Miguel Sabido, the producer of a very popular television program decided to try an experiment. For a number of months in 1973 Sabido wove pro-adult literacy messages into the plot of his top-rated program. Most of the messages came out of the mouth of the favorite male lead character. In the twelve months following that experiment, registrations in adult literacy classes across Mexico increased by an astounding 800%. That's influence! This paper will attempt to explain how and why media messages are as influential as they are. Indeed a multi-billion dollar worldwide advertising industry is predicated on media's ability to shape attitudes and values and to change behavior. The explanation begins with a description of how the human brain works.
There is no logically necessary link between smoking and manhood. In fact one might suggest the opposite. Yet the ironic certainty in the Rolling Stones’ lyric illustrates the power of an image forged through deliberate and consistent association. Advertising is perhaps the most prolific vehicle for such image making in capitalist societies. It is made more efficient through the built-in process of evaluation obtained through sales records, which are often used to ‘fine-tune’ subsequent messages.
This paper considers linkages between contemporary marketing theory and practice, and emerging conceptualizations of identity, to discuss implications for public health concerns over alcohol use among young people. Particular attention is paid to the theorizing of consumption as a component of youth identities and the ways in which developments of marketing praxis orients to such schemata. The authors’ analyses of exemplars of marketing materials in use in Aotearoa New Zealand, drawn from their research archive, emphasize the sophistication and power of such forms of marketing. They argue that public health policy and practice must respond to the interweaving of marketing and the self-making practices of young people to counter this complex threat to the health and well-being of young people.
With the rapid expansion of gambling have also come concerns about underage gambling and youth problem gambling. Most studies of youth gambling have found that the majority of youths have gambled but do so infrequently and do not suffer any adverse consequences. A minority of youths, however, appear to be over-involved in gambling and are experiencing problems associated with their gambling. This is the first generation of youths to be exposed to such widespread access to gambling venues, ubiquitous gambling advertising, and general social approval of gambling. Gambling is the only so-called vice endorsed and promoted in many locales by both the church and state. On the one hand, youths are instructed by their teachers (and ostensibly their state department of education) that the way to get ahead in life is to study and work hard; on the other hand, their state lottery tells them that they need only to be lucky. Youths are adept at recognizing these apparent discrepancies and may be confused by this mixed message. Future research will need to address a number of gaps in our knowledge about youth gambling.
The concern that young people may be influenced by magazine images of smoking can be traced to cultural developments which have characterized the latter part of the 20th century, where the production and consumption of image is merely one facet in a transformation which has altered the way life is lived, perceived and experienced. These developments have been termed 'late' or 'post' modernism. This paper develops a theoretical explanation of the use of cigarettes in magazine fashion spreads in the context of these wider cultural changes. The rise of consumption as a means to establish self- identity will be discussed, as will its dependence on the marketing of image. The paper relates this to the growth of youth and style magazines, and their increasing use of smoking to emphasize particular moods and images, these being created to exploit certain mythologies which young people identify with and aspire to. Three ways in which images of smoking could influence young people's smoking behaviour are identified. The second part of the paper discusses some key theoretical questions and method- ological issues that need to be considered when researching the semiotics of smoking, and describes the ways in which the authors attempted to address these concerns in a study which explored young people's perceptions of smoking in youth and style magazines. The third part of the paper discusses the authors' experience of using the methods which they developed and the implications for future research in this field. The focus of the paper is thus on theoretical and methodological issues rather than the empirical findings of the study, which are reported elsewhere. Razor-sharp silhouettes and winklepickers in dark-as-night shades look back to Paris in the late 60s this autumn. Think Stephen Dorff in Backbeat, think left-bank pool hall chic, then wake up and smell the Gitanes. (By-line in fashion spread, Sky Magazine, October 1994)
The present study investigated a primary assumption of the cognitive theory of problem gambling, that gambling-related irrational beliefs lead directly to problematic gambling behaviour. Participants (N = 114) received a message designed to increase their illusion of control (IOC) over a computerised roulette game, a message designed to decrease their IOC, or a neutral message. Participants then played the game, during which their gambling behaviour was recorded and irrational beliefs were measured. Based on the cognitive model, it was expected that those receiving the IOC enhancement message would evidence greater levels of irrational beliefs and correspondingly more intense gambling behaviour and that those in the IOC reduction condition would show decreased levels of both irrational beliefs and behaviour. However, although conditions differed as to levels of irrational beliefs, there were no significant differences in gambling behaviour. Results are discussed and implications of the results on the cognitive theory of problematic gambling are explored.
Since 1970, when the Criminal Code was amended to permit various forms of gambling activity in Canada, legalized gambling has grown to a multibillion-dollar industry (Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, 1996). Similar patterns of growth have occurred in numerous countries around the world. The marketing of gambling is an important consideration for the Canadian government, as the revenue from gambling activities is touted as being important for the funding of social services. Effectivemarketing strategies are therefore employed in order to maintain this much-needed influx of revenue. Throughout this chapter, we focus on the marketing of gambling behind this multi-billion dollar industry.
With the proliferation and acceptance of gambling in society, gambling advertisements have become increasingly prominent. Despite attempts to protect minors from harm by prohibiting them from engaging in most forms of gambling, there are few restrictions on the marketing of gambling products. Evidence of high rates of gambling and associated problems amongst youth indicates that the issue of youth gambling must be addressed to minimise harm. This paper aims to examine the current marketing techniques used to promote gambling and how they affect youth. The effect of multiple forms of advertisements will be discussed, including advertising placement in the media, point-of-sale displays, sports sponsorship, promotional products, celebrity endorsements, advertisements using Internet and wireless technology, and content which may appeal to or mislead children. Based on research in gambling and other public health domains, including tobacco, alcohol, and junk food advertising, recommendations are made for appropriate regulations for gambling advertisements to minimise the potential harms.
This prospective study examined the effect of tobacco marketing on progression to established smoking.
Massachusetts adolescents (n = 529) who at baseline had smoked no more than 1 cigarette were reinterviewed by telephone in 1997. Analyses examined the effect of receptivity to tobacco marketing at baseline on progression to established smoking, controlling for significant covariates.
Adolescents who, at baseline, owned a tobacco promotional item and named a brand whose advertisements attracted their attention were more than twice as likely to become established smokers (odds ratio = 2.70) than adolescents who did neither.
Participation in tobacco marketing often precedes, and is likely to facilitate, progression to established smoking. Hence, restrictions on tobacco marketing and promotion could reduce addiction to tobacco.
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.
Along with the rapid growth experienced by the gaming industry in the United States has come increasing calls to restrict or ban gambling advertising. To date, little is known about what motivates people to support such restrictions on advertising. However, one recent theory, the third-person effect, offers a possible explanation. The third-person effect states that when confronted with negative messages, people will overestimate the messages' effect on others relative to themselves. Additionally, it suggests that it is this misperception that motivates them to take action against such messages. This study investigates whether a third-person effect occurs for gambling advertising and if this effect is related to pro-censorship attitudes for lotteries and casinos. The results suggest there is a sizable gap between perceptions of the effect of gambling advertising on one's self versus others, and that the perceived effect on others is related to a willingness to restrict such advertising. © 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Understanding Effective Advertising: How, When, and Why Advertising Works reviews and summarizes an extensive body of research on advertising effectiveness. In particular, it summarizes what we know today on when, how, and why advertising works. The primary focus of the book is on the instantaneous and carryover effects of advertising on consumer choice, sales, and market share. In addition, the book reviews research on the rich variety of ad appeals, and suggests which appeals work, and when, how, and why they work. The first comprehensive book on advertising effectiveness, Understanding Effective Advertising reviews over 50 years of research in the fields of advertising, marketing, consumer behavior, and psychology. It covers all aspects of advertising and its effect on sales, including sales elasticity, carryover effects, content effects, and effects of frequency. Author Gerard J. Tellis distills three decades of academic and professional experience into one volume that successfully dismisses many popular myths about advertising.
Examination of the increasing number of articles employing quantitative content analysis in 1971–95 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly showed primary focus on news/editorial content in U.S. media. Nearly half examined newspapers, and half were coauthored. Most used convenience or purposive samples. Few involved a second research method or extra-media data, explicit theoretical grounding, or research questions or hypotheses. Half reported intercoder reliability, and two-fifths used only descriptive statistics. Analysis of trends shows growth in coauthorship and reporting of reliability, and increasing emphasis on more sophisticated statistical analysis. No parallel trend exists, however, in use of explicit hypotheses/research questions or theoretical grounding.
Examination of the increasing number of articles employing quantitative content analysis in 1971–95 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly showed primary focus on news/editorial content in U.S. media. Nearly half examined newspapers, and half were coauthored. Most used convenience or purposive samples. Few involved a second research method or extra-media data, explicit theoretical grounding, or research questions or hypotheses. Half reported intercoder reliability, and two-fifths used only descriptive statistics. Analysis of trends shows growth in coauthorship and reporting of reliability, and increasing emphasis on more sophisticated statistical analysis. No parallel trend exists, however, in use of explicit hypotheses/research questions or theoretical grounding.
Abstract Areview,of the,literature leads to the conclusion that there are no reliable figures on the impact of gambling ,advertising on the ,extent of problem ,gambling. To measure that impact appears as a very difficult research task. However, we can infer that gambling advertising does add to problem gambling, but with a smaller impact than other influential factors. Thus, alarming claims that gambling advertising substantially increases problem,gambling,and reassuring statements from gambling,companies,that advertising merely ,affects market ,share and has no impact ,on the ,prevalence ,of problem,gambling ,both appear to be ,erroneous. Gambling ,providers are advised to avoid publishing advertising that elaborates on features,of gambling,known,to relate toproblem,gambling. The controversial nature of gambling ,advertising is illustrated bythe case of Sweden, where advertising and its impact on problem gambling have been hotly debated over the past decade. Keywords: gambling, problem gambling, advertising, marketing, promotion
Facing further censorship on advertising, cigarette companies exploited the billboard in the 1990s. Billboards pose problems of communication because of the short time for perception. All the companies founded their ads on the myth of freedom. Winston used purely verbal presentations, creating a persona that proclaimed its cigarettes free of additives and that talked back to big government. Merit used visual signifiers of color and clothing and dawn light to connote pleasure and freedom. Joe Camel was the epitome of “attitude,” an urban expression of personal freedom. The cartoon form also served to deny subordination to the iconic form of photography. Marlboro began a decade-long deconstruction of the billboard frame, thus enacting rather than merely professing the idea of freedom.
This paper explores the relationship between drug cultures, advertising messages and drug education. The author argues that commercial cultures have appropriated the language and usages of drug cultures in order to sell to a youth market. An analysis of such advertising practices suggests the industry regards drug use as a significant feature of youth culture; drug use is demonstrated to be increasingly characterized as a signifier which connotes pleasure and excitement. The functioning of such advertising practices is examined in an attempt to understand the implications this may have for the construction and implementation of drug education strategies.
The natural course of gambling disorders was examined in 40 active pathological gamblers following a three-and-a-half-year period. The majority who reported intentions to quit or reduce gambling made a serious change attempt; however, at follow-up most were gambling problematically. Emotional and financial factors were important precipitants of attempts to quit as well as reasons for relapse. A substantial number experienced a depressive episode or substance use disorder during the follow-up period. A number reported quitting drinking and smoking concurrent with quitting gambling. Less than half had treatment for their gambling problem during the follow-up interval. The few participants who were currently gambling but no longer experiencing gambling problems reported less serious gambling problems initially. In contrast, the successfully abstinent group reported more gambling problems initially. This study provides important directions for future research. Abstinence may be more feasible for individuals experiencing more serious problems, whereas non-abstinent goals may be realistic for individuals with fewer negative consequences.
There is a paucity of research on the advertising of gambling, especially the intensely marketed Internet poker and blackjack games. This study examines ads that aired on cable television in one Canadian jurisdiction. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we analyze 64 distinct commercials that aired 904 times over a 6-month period. Our findings show that these ads target audiences along age, gender, and ethnic lines and mobilize celebrities, excitement, and humour as persuasive techniques to promote the view that on-line gambling is an entertainment experience in which skill prevails over luck, winning dominates losing, fantasy overshadows reality, leisure trumps work, and the potential for personal change eclipses the routines of everyday life. We conclude that the e-gambling advertising assemblage, with its high-volume exposure, attractiveness, pervasiveness, and repetitiveness of messaging is now an embedded feature of everyday life that is especially connected to popular sport culture ...
Slot machines and other electronic gambling machines (EGMs) are gambling devices that offer a variety of games. They are inexpensive to run, which makes it possible for casinos to offer low-stakes betting to a large number of customers. As a result, they have become the most profitable form of gambling. EGMs are found at casinos, on cruise boats, at racetracks, at local bars, and even at corner stores. Slot machines and other EGMs seem to attract a lot of myths. This is partly because of a lack of accurate information on how the machines work and partly due to the design of the machines. In this paper, we will discuss how slot machines really work. Our goal is to demystify the machines in order to demystify the games. We will also discuss some of the myths about slot machines. This paper is intended to serve as a resource for counsellors and prevention workers in the field of problem gambling. It is also intended for people in the general public who wish to understand slot machines. (Keywords: slot machines, problem gambling, random)
Accounts of jackpot winners and big gambling wins are common in Swedish newspapers. Analysis of over 2000 such newspaper articles reveals that their content is structured according to specific themes and cultural topics. Four such topics are identified: wealth as a test of morals and character, the social impact of wealth, the just and good world, and luck and the occult. Culturally structured narratives like these—which elaborate on mythological and moralistic schemes of good and evil, rewards and punishments, and which concern questions of human nature and social values—have a long history in folk tradition and in Christian moral teachings. Jackpot wins provide a discursive realm for moral and existential questions that, to some extent, fills a void left by the decline of traditional folklore and formal religion. Apparently, this discourse stimulates interest in games and constitutes one of the cultural roots of contemporary gambling.
This paper discusses some principles of critical discourse analysis, such as the explicit sociopolitical stance of discourse analysts, and a focus on dominance relations by elite groups and institutions as they are being enacted, legitimated or otherwise reproduced by text and talk. One of the crucial elements of this analysis of the relations between power and discourse is the patterns of access to (public) discourse for different social groups. Theoretically it is shown that in order to be able to relate power and discourse in an explicit way, we need the `cognitive interface' of models, knowledge, attitudes and ideologies and other social representations of the social mind, which also relate the individual and the social, and the micro- and the macro-levels of social structure. Finally, the argument is illustrated with an analysis of parliamentary debates about ethnic affairs.
Authors Amanda Coffey and Paul Atkinson underscore the diversity of approaches at the disposal of the qualitative researcher by using a single data set—doctoral students and faculty members in social anthropology—that they analyze using a number of techniques. [This book] is not intended as a comprehensive cookbook of methods: It describes and illustrates a number of key, complementary approaches to qualitative data and offers practical advice on the many ways to analyze data, which the reader is encouraged to explore and enjoy.
[It is a] resource [for] students and professionals in qualitative and research methods, sociology, anthropology, communication, management, and education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Why do so many people spend so much of their hard-earned money playing the lottery? Why do so many people keep at it week after losing week? We explore the possible roles of certain internal and external factors in this behavior. The internal factor is the process of counterfactual thinking (CFT)—that is, imagining what might have been or might still be, or comparing reality (the facts; what is) with what might have been or might still be. The external factor we examine is lottery advertising, which we argue often exploits the normal human capacity for counterfactual thinking. More specifically, we discuss how an inherent feature of virtually all lottery purchases—negative outcome—tends to induce CFT, and how certain cognitive features of counterfactual thinking—such as its salience and degree of absurdity—are manipulated by lottery advertising. We also discuss how certain affective features of lottery-related counterfactual thinking—high personal involvement, direction of CFT, affective assimilation and contrast effects of CFT, and perceived proximity of actual outcome to counterfactual alternatives—are exploited by lottery advertising. We conclude with implications for research and public policy. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Recently, there has been a significant increase in the number of UK television shows in which viewers call into the show using a premium-rate telephone service. At one level it could be argued that in these instances viewers are participating in a lottery. Viewers are typically asked to call a premium-rate telephone line to answer a simple question. Winners are then chosen from all those viewers with the correct answer. It could also be argued that the viewer is staking money (i.e., the cost of the premium-rate telephone call) on the outcome of a future event (i.e., whether they will get the correct answer). This again could be defined as a form of gambling. Interactive television quiz shows share many of the dimensions of interactive television gambling and also raise the same concerns about vulnerable and susceptible populations. These concerns are discussed.
It has been noted that the introduction of the Internet to gambling activities may change some of the fundamental situational
and structural characteristics and make them potentially more addictive and/or problematic. This study examined some of the
differences between Internet gamblers and non-Internet gamblers. Based on past literature it was hypothesised that (1) males
would be significantly more likely to be Internet gamblers than females, (2) Internet gamblers would be significantly more
likely to be problem gamblers than non-Internet gamblers, and (3) males would be significantly more likely to be problem Internet
gamblers than females. A self-selected sample of 473 student respondents (213 males; 260 females) aged between 18 and 52years
(mean age = 22years; SD = 5.7years) participated in an online survey. All three hypotheses were confirmed. The results
suggest the structural and situational characteristics of Internet gambling may be having a negative psychosocial impact on
Internet gambling. This is most notably because of increased number of gambling opportunities, convenience, 24-h access and
flexibility, increased event frequencies, smaller intervals between gambles, instant reinforcements, and the ability to forget
gambling losses by gambling again immediately. It is suggested that further research needs to be carried out into the effects
that the Internet has in facilitating gambling behaviour.
This study qualitatively explored the impact of gambling advertising on problem gambling by interviewing twenty-five people
with current or past gambling problems. Interviews were relatively long and involved the participants’ viewing numerous examples
of gambling advertising. A quarter of the participants reported that gambling advertising had no impact on their problems,
slightly over half of them reported that advertising had a marginal impact, and one fifth reported a tangible impact. However,
none considered advertising to be a main cause of their gambling problems. The negative self-perceived impact was primarily
that advertising triggered impulses to gamble. Advertising thus increased already high involvement in gambling and/or made
it harder to stick to a decision to gamble less or not at all.
Legal State Lotteries have significant effects on those state's revenues, their residents’ behaviours and their ultimate welfare. Reported Lottery product purchase appears to reflect patterns that suggest high levels of habitual behaviour. Analysis of a US State's Lottery data found that this pattern was exhibited early in a game's introduction, and was evident in three apparently different product offerings: six-number and three-number Lotto, and Instant (scratch-off) games. These findings have important implications for understanding gambling behaviour, lottery marketing and gambling regulation.
The U.K. National Lottery and instant scratchcards are now well established yet there is still little empirical research on the players. This study was an exploratory investigation of the psychosocial effects of these forms of gambling among adolescents (n=1195; aged 11- to 15-years-old). Using a questionnaire, it was shown that large numbers of adolescents were taking part in these activities. There was a significant link between parental and child gambling with most lottery tickets and scratchcards being bought for the adolescents by their parents. Results showed that many adolescents thought they would win lots of money on these activities and that these activities were in general not perceived to be forms of gambling. Six per cent of adolescents fulfiled the DSM-IV-J criteria for pathological gambling, the majority of which were males.
Television advertising for the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program (MTCP) was launched in 1993. The campaign's first three years were examined against an analytical framework based in behavioral change and communications theory. The most common focus in the 49 advertisements was tobacco industry practices, followed by health consequences for smokers and smoking prevention. Only one smoking prevention advertisement was targeted to children younger that age 13. Only four advertisements mentioned policy actions to reduce youth access or curtail exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Only two advertisements listed the telephone number for the MTCP's smoking cessation program. The television campaign was uncoordinated with the MTCP's community-level programs.
This study was constructed to detail the demographic and phenomenological features of pathological gamblers.
One hundred thirty-one subjects with DSM-IV pathological gambling were administered a semistructured interview to elicit demographic data and information on the phenomenology, age at onset, course, associated features, treatment history, and response to treatment of the disorder, followed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV.
Seventy-eight female (59.5%) and 53 male (40.5%) (mean +/- SD age = 47.7+/-11.0 years) pathological gamblers were studied. The majority of subjects (55.7%) were married. Subjects gambled a mean of 16 hours per week. Slot machines (65%), cards (33%), and blackjack (26%) were the most popular forms of gambling. The mean length of time between first gambling behavior and onset of pathological gambling was 6.3+/-8.9 years. Approximately one half (46%) of the subjects reported that television, radio, and billboard advertisements were a trigger to gamble. Most gamblers had severe financial, social, or legal problems. The majority of the subjects (58%) had at least 1 first-degree relative who also exhibited symptoms of problematic gambling behavior.
Pathological gambling is a disabling disorder associated with high rates of social and legal difficulties.