<p>This study explores the relatively new phenomenon of online poker. More specifically, it elaborates on who the online poker player is, why s/he plays online poker, what the fascination of the game is, why s/he continues to play, and what the experience is. The study is delimited to focus on individuals who mainly play Texas hold’em online. The empirical material is based on semi-structured interviews with active online poker players, as well as on secondary data such as articles and literature. Both professional and amateur players are included among the respondents. The material has been coded and qualitatively analyzed. Earlier studies in the same field have also been brought to light and discussed, among which we especially centered on Reith’s theories about gambling and the gambler. Finally, the study concludes that the four factors primarily motivating the online poker player are excitement, money, social interaction, and the aspect of skill.</p>

Title: ”… Then came the realization that I was just like them. That I have a gambling addiction…” This is a qualitative study of four former gamblers and their experience of getting out of the gambling addiction. The study is about how individuals have overcome a gambling addiction. The purpose of this study is to examine the social processes and factors that are of importance when overcoming a gambling addiction. In addition, the study focuses on how individuals experience the change from gambling addiction to a life free of that addiction. In this thesis, I conducted a qualitative study in the form of semi-structured interviews with four former gamblers. The theoretical approach concentrated on Ebaugh’s (1988) role exit theory and Giddens’ (2005) identity formation theory has been used to illustrate the interviewees' experiences of gambling addiction and their identity as addiction free. The study shows that the gambling addiction has brought economic, social and health-related impacts and some of these aspects still exist today. The exit out of a gambling addiction has been a process with different phases and events where the process for some has been incrementally with relapses during the journey. Based on my results, the changing process appears to consist of parallel turning points where different and more significant events give rise to role exit. The study shows the need of continuous social support in combination with gambling association support efforts and the gamblers’ own insight, motivation and freedom of action. It appears that the interviewed have accepted their role that they had left behind and they take careful consideration to the past and the future and try to make more conscious choices and build their new identity. This is done by actions and re- evaluations of themselves and their world. It is based on their lives, by their own choices. However, these choices seem to be limited by conditions that occur in the interaction with the environment, social norms and social situations.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka spelaktörers konkurrensförutsättningar över Internet på den svenska spelmarknaden. Den teknologiska utvecklingen har bidragit till ökad tillgänglighet vilket lett till att spelande över Internet vuxit sig starkt. Spelmarknaden är komplex gällande marknadsföring och på grund av att aktörer ska sälja en produkt till konsumenten som samtidigt kan ge negativa påföljder. Spellagstiftningen i Sverige är inte uppdaterad och är orsak till att landet blivit kritiserat av EU-kommissionen. Egentligen ska det råda monopol på den svenska spelmarknaden, men monopolet har blivit utsatt för konkurrens av externa aktörer som kan verka fritt på Internetmarknaden. Teorier som appliceras i denna studie är Internets påverkan på branschstrukturen och teorin om konkurrensutsatta marknader. Slutsatsen är att befintlig reglering med det svenska spelmonopolet kan ses ur olika perspektiv. Det ena är att marknaden kan betraktas som fungerande på grund av det “Moment 22” läge som uppstått. Staten vill reglera spelmarknaden och återfå kontroll samtidigt som externa aktörer inbringar positiva effekter som intäkter och arbetstillfällen. Det andra perspektivet ser problem med att spellagstiftningen är verkningslös och ineffektiv. Detta är orsaken till varför spelregleringen behöver modifieras och bemöta påtryckningarna från EU-kommissionen. Externa aktörer kan marknadsföra sig relativt obehindrat till svenska konsumenter, trots att det föreligger främjandeförbud. Marknadsföring är viktig för externa aktörers verksamheter. Den uppkomna konkurrensen har tvingat det svenska spelmonopolet att utveckla sina produkter. / The purpose of this paper has been to examine external operators competitive conditions across the Internet on the Swedish gaming market. As a result of the technological development, gaming over the Internet has grown rapidly, due to availability. Marketing is complex in the gaming industry. The operators are selling a product that may have a negative impact on the consumer. Swedish Gaming Legislation is obsolete and has been subject to criticism by the European Commission. The Swedish gaming market should be operated by a state-owned monopoly, but the monopoly has been exposed to competition from external operators who can run their businesses on the Internet. Theories applied in this paper will be How the Internet Influences Industry Structure and The Theory of Competitive Market. The conclusion is that the existing regulation of the Swedish gaming monopoly can be viewed from different perspectives. One is that the market can be regarded as functional, because of the "Moment 22" situation, which has arisen. The state wants to regulate the gaming market and regain control; meanwhile external operators give positive effects in revenues and job opportunities. The other perspective indicates that the gaming legislation is ineffective and inefficient. This is the reason why Swedish gaming regulation needs to be modified in order to respond to the criticism from the European Commission. External gaming operators can promote themselves with relative ease to Swedish consumers, despite the existence of promotion prohibition. Marketing is important for external operators businesses. Arising competition has forced the Swedish gaming monopoly to develop their products.

This thesis deals with online gambling and specifics of the legislation, which is in the Czech Republic regulated mainly by the Act No. 202/1990, the Lottery Act. After short introduction of the field, there is provided analysis of the latest amendment to the Lottery Act No. 300/2011 and its impact on the poker industry, particularly the online poker industry. Emphasis is placed on the conditions laid down for obtaining a license to operate in lotteries and other similar games, the tax aspects of poker for both operators and players and suitability of inclusion poker under the regime of the Lottery Act. The issue of cross-border gambling is in the European Union closely studied and in the coming years there is to be expected extensive harmonization, which will be based on the fundamental principles of free movement of goods, services, people and capital. In connection with the forthcoming harmonization, the author addresses the issue of incompatibility of the Czech Lottery Act with European law and draws the same conclusion regarding the draft Act on the Operation of gambling, which was originally approved with effect from 1st January 2013. After a brief excursion into the regulation of internet gambling in France and Greece, the author compares the local regulatory tools and instruments with those...

The position of local self-government in the regulation of lotteries and other similar games This thesis covers the position of local self-government in the Czech republic in the regulation of gambling. The role of local self-government, especially the municipalities, was rather recently reinforced thanks to a series of changes during the last two years. My objective is to describe the development of the position of local administration in this area and through an impartial opinion show the consequences of the aforementioned changes. My thesis is composed of three parts. Before I start dealing with the essential topic of my thesis, I have to define the basic notion in the first part of my work, by which I mean the notion of lotteries and other similar games of chance not only according to Act No. 202/1990 Coll., but also according to the foreign legislation (e.g. Belgian). I mention two basic aspects of this notion. The first one is based on the civil law and the second one much more important to my thesis is based on the norms of public law. After this selection I continue with classification of games of chance, but accordnig to my thesis, I try to show the differences between the games of chance that are object of the regulation of local self-government and the games of chance that are not. The most...

Charles University of Prague Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Biological and Medicinal Sciences Student: Bc. Veronika Hončová Supervisor: Doc. MUDr. Josef Herink, DrSc. Consultant: MUDr. Jela Hrnčiarová Title: Signs of the temporolimbic dysfunction in gamblers Background: The aim of this thesis was to determine whether pathological gamblers exhibit symptoms related to epileptic spectrum disorder. Methods: To investigate, symptoms of the temporolimbic dysfunction were examined by means of the structured questionnaires CPSI (Complex Partial Symptoms Inventory) and LSCL-33 (Limbic System Checklist-33). Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used for statistical evaluation. Results: The mean score in the questionnaire CPSI of gamblers was 38,9 points, which is an abnormal score. With the questionnaire LSCL-33, the mean score of 21,5 points, corresponds to suspected findings. From the mean results it can be concluded that pathological gamblers may have a higher incidence of the symptoms of the temporolimbic dysfunction. When comparing the groups of gamblers with smokers, it was evaluated that in the questionnaire CPSI was a statistically significant difference between the appearances of symptoms of epileptic spectrum disorder, while it was not in the...

Den här studien har studerat hur kändisar använder native advertising i podcast. Det gjordes genom att studera hur podcastprofilerna Alex Schulman och Sigge Eklund i sin podcast “Alex och Sigges podcast” framför sin reklam för nätkasinoföretaget Maria Casino. Vi ville skapa ny teoretisk kunskap kring området då native advertising är ett nytt fenomen, framför allt i podcast. På det teoretiska planet har vi använt oss av de teoretiska begreppen legitimering, kongruens och autenticitet. Som metod användes kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Vi såg att Schulman och Eklund legitimerar spel om pengar för sina lyssnare. Dessutom skapar de kongruens till Maria Casino och försöker verka autentiska kring spel om pengar. Vi diskuterar i slutet av uppsatsen vad för konsekvenser deras marknadsföring, i slutändan, kan få för lyssnarna. / This research has studied how celebrities use native advertising in podcasts. This was achieved by studying how the podcasters Alex Schulman and Sigge Eklund in there podcast “Alex och Sigges podcast” construct their advertisement for the online casino company Maria Casino. We wanted to create new theoretical knowledge about native advertising as it is a new phenomenon, specially in podcasts. In the theoretical field we use the theoretical terms legitimation, congruence and authenticity. As method qualitative content analysis, was used. We saw that Schulman and Eklund legitimize gambling to their listeners. In addition they create congruence to Maria Casino and try to act authentic about gambling. In the end of the paper, we discuss what consequences their advertising can get for the listeners.

I följande uppsats undersöks den svenska spelbolagsmarknaden och dess marknadsföring. Tyngdpunkten ligger på att undersöka hur konsumenternas attityd till de svenska spelbolagens marknadsföring ser ut och vad som ligger till grund för denna attityd. I uppsatsen används tre olika metoder för att ge en så tydlig bild av ämnet som möjligt. Metoderna som används är enkäter och intervjuer med konsumenter, samt systematisk observation av de sex spelbolag med högst marknadsföringskostnader 2018. Enkäten genomfördes digitalt med syftet att skapa en bild av konsumenternas åsikter kring ämnet och gav 104 svar. Tre stycken intervjuer med konsumenter gjordes via telefon för att skapa en djupare förståelse kring konsumenternas åsikter och observationer genomfördes av de utvalda spelbolagens marknadsföring via TV och digitala kanaler, såsom sociala medier och deras egna hemsidor, för att skapa en mer objektiv bild av hur spelbolagen faktiskt arbetar med sin marknadsföring. Ett teoretiskt ramverk används i studien baserat på teorier inom marknadsföring, konsumentbeteende samt konsumentupplevelse. Teorierna används för att forma enkät- och intervjufrågor, skapa observationsscheman samt för att kunna genomföra grundliga analyser av empirin. Sammanfattningsvis visade resultatet av studien att det går att se differentiering mellan spelbolagen, främst mellan betting- och casinobolag, samt att bland annat mängden marknadsföring som konsumenter utsätts för påverkar bilden av spelbolagens marknadsföring till det negativa. / In the following study the Swedish betting- and gambling industry and the companies’ marketing is being investigated. The main focus is exploring how the customers attitude is towards the Swedish betting- and gambling companies and their marketing, and what the foundation of the customers attitude is based on. For the study three different methods were used to give the best picture possible of the subject. The methods that were used were surveys and interviews with the customers and systematic observations of the six companies with the highest marketing costs for 2018. The survey was done digitally, and received 104 answers, with the purpose of creating a view of the customers’ opinions. Three interviews with customers were made by phone to create a deeper understanding for the customers’ opinions, and observations of the selected betting- and gambling companies’ marketing by TV and digital channels, like social medias and their own internet pages, were made to create a more objective image of how the companies actually work with their marketing. A theoretical framework is being used in the study, based on theories in marketing, customer behavior and customer experience. The theories were used to create questions for the survey and interviews, to create observation schemes, and to be able to make a thorough analysis of the gathered empirical data. To summarize, the result of the study shows that there is some differentiation through the marketing between the companies, primarily between betting and casino companies, and that the amount of marketing that the consumers are exposed to, amongst other factors, affects their attitude against the betting- and gambling companies to the negative.

Along with an increased online presence, as well as expanded trade agreement between EU countries, the Swedish online gambling market has been facilitated and made more accessible than ever before. As a consequence, this growing gambling market has also correlated with increased gambling-related health- and economical issues amongst Swedish gamblers. At the same time online gambling companies keep increasing their investments in external communication and marketing activities. In order to protect the public, the governmental initiative “Spelinspektionen” initiated the new law, spellagen (2018:1138), which from the 1st of January 2019 is supposed to regulate marketing from online gambling companies. Based on a multimodal critical discourse analysis, the purpose of this study is to examine how spellagen (2018:1138) has affected marketing strategies from three different gambling companies; Leovegas, Ninja Casino and No Account Casino. The analysis studies a material based on six movies before the introduction of spellagen, and six movies after the introduction. Four central discourses has been identified, called The Hero, Action, Escapism, and Alonetime. Based on these discourses, the analysis used different tools from a multimodal discourse analysis in order to distinguish the strategies upon which the hidden- or open message was communicated. The analysis found that the gambling companies regularly used Per Binde ́s motives for gambling in their commercials. At least three out of five motives were identified through identity-creating strategies and emotional strategies which could be connected to Bindes motives “chances of winning”, “the jackpot-dream” and “moodswings”. The most prominent strategy for all of the commercials was the use of symbols and representation, which allows the company to communicate hidden or subtle meanings through connotations the company know that their target group will make. This main strategy did not make any drastic changes after the introduction of spellagen (2018:1138). The same message was still communicated, but now more often through visual elements rather than linguistic ones. The conclusion pointed out that in order for spelinspektionen to protect Swedish gamblers, spellagen (2018:1138) must be more concrete and descriptive, so that no alternative interpretations can be made. Other measures for spelinspektionen to consider is the amount of gambling commercials which the Swedish public are exposed to today.

Dadas a elevada prevalência e os grandes prejuízos sociais, familiares e pessoais que caracterizam o envolvimento patológico com jogos de azar, torna-se necessária a investigação sistemática de fatores de vulnerabilidade e de resistência que possam influir no desenvolvimento de tais condições. Uma das principais estratégias utilizadas para a profilaxia e tratamento dessas formas de envolvimento patológico tem sido a investigação dos componentes biológico-genéticos do Jogo Patológico (JP). O presente estudo objetivou investigar a associação de polimorfismos de genes candidatos do sistema serotonérgico e JP em pares de irmãos discordantes para este diagnóstico. Participaram do estudo 140 pares de irmãos discordantes para o diagnóstico de JP pelos critérios do Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico da Associação Psiquiátrica Americana, DSM-IV. Foram genotipados os seguintes polimorfismos de genes que codificam: o transportador da serotonina (polimorfismo 5HTTLPR-l/s), o receptor serotoninérgico subtipo 1B (5HT1B G861C), e o receptor serotoninérgico subtipo 2A (polimorfismos 5HT2A T102C e C516T). Na análise estatística observou-se uma maior distribuição do alelo C do polimorfismo T102C do gene 5HT2A no grupo de irmãos com o diagnóstico de JP (p<0,01), sugerindo uma possível contribuição desse alelo na predisposição ao JP. Entretanto, faz-se necessária a investigação desses polimorfismos em amostras independentes envolvendo o fenótipo JP para a confirmação dos achados apresentados nesse trabalho. Uma análise preliminar dos haplótipos (102 e 516) apresentou resultados inconclusivos. É interessante notar que há associação entre esse polimorfismo e manifestações psiquiátricas outras que não o JP. / The high prevalence and the great social, familial and personal hazards that appear along with the occurrence of pathological involvement in gambling makes it necessary to systematically investigate vulnerability and resilience factors that may influence the development of such a condition. One of the main strategies in prevention and treatment of these pathological behaviors has been the investigation of the biological-genetic basis of pathological gambling (PG). The present study aimed to determine any association between candidate gene polymorphisms of the serotoninergic system and the occurrence of PG in sib-pairs discordant for this diagnosis. One hundred and forty (140) PG-discordant sib-pairs were evaluated by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual from the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV), who had already been previously genotyped in other studies. We genotyped the polymorphisms which codified: the serotonin transporter (5HTTLPRl/ s polymorphism), the serotonergic receptor subtype 1B (5HT1B G861C polymorphism), and the serotonergic receptor subtype 2A (T102C and C516T polymorphisms). Statistical analysis revealed a greater distribution of the C allele of the T102C polymorphism of the 5HT2A gene in the gambling sib group (p<0,01), suggesting a possible contribution of this allele in the predisposition for PG. Nevertheless, it is necessary to further investigate these polymorphisms in independent samples involving PG phenotype for the adequate confirmation of such findings. A preliminary analysis of the haplotypes (102 and 516) show inconclusive results. It is noteworthy that there are previous associations between this polymorphism and psychiatric manifestations other than PG.