For years, the gambling industry has been gaining popularity among a variety of countries and communities for its contribution to tourism development and thus, to the economy. At the same time, the addictive nature of the gambling activities poses questions for society’s future wellbeing. In the Republic of Cyprus, tourism is a major economic activity. Recently, some of the local practitioners of tourism lobbied government to allow the introduction of the casino industry to increase tourists’ arrivals, enhance their experience, as well as limit the number of travelers who go to the bordering Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for casino-gambling. However, the potential adverse impacts of gambling on the local community cannot be overlooked as a factor in decision-making. As a result, this study explores the implications for the Greek-Cypriot community development of introducing casino-style gambling as a part of the tourism development strategy. This study’s findings suggest that while the literature does indicate that there can be some possible immediate direct economic benefits from the introduction of casinos to local economies, those benefits are not demonstrated in this particular investigation. The findings were derived from a literature review, nineteen interviews, and two hundred and twenty surveys completed by tourists and local residents in Cyprus. They revealed mixed responses to the introduction of the casino industry. During the course of the data analysis and interpretation, it was identified that tourists are not as interested in seeing casinos introduced to Cyprus as were some local residents. If that is the case, on the basis of this study there does not appear to be a persuasive argument for introducing casino-style gambling to promote tourism on the island. Moreover, there are some potentially negative effects of gambling that could adversely affect the tourism industry and local culture.

Bakgrund: Den statliga utredningen En framtida spelreglering presenterades under december 2008. Ett förslag i utredningen är att delar av monopolet på den svenska spelmarknaden i framtiden kan komma att konkurrensutsättas. Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur det sociala ansvarstagandet påverkas och i vilken omfattning CSR kan utgöra en konkurrensfördel på en avreglerad marknad. Genomförande: Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod där Svenska Spel, Ladbrokes och Betssons CSR - arbete studeras. Utöver sekundärdata har det empiriska materialet kompletterats genom intervjuer med varje företag. Resultat: En avreglerad marknad behöver inte innebära att företagens sociala ansvarstagande minskar i samhället. Att integrera CSR i företagsstrategin är ett viktigt led i att nå acceptans bland intressenterna på marknaden. För ett lyckat CSR – arbete menar vi att företagens interna resurser måste användas med hänsyn till flertalet faktorer i den omgivande miljön. / Background: During the end of 2008 the Swedish government published a submission for comment regarding the future legislation of the Swedish gambling industry. The investigation suggests that new entrants may be allowed to enter the Swedish market. Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to determine if and how the social responsibility is affected when a market is deregulated, and if CSR is a possible tool for creating competitive advantage. Completion: The study is based on a qualitative method and examines the gambling companies Svenska Spel, Ladbrokes and Betsson. We conducted questionnaire studies among the examined gambling companies to enhance the secondary data. Findings: Our findings suggest that there is a good possibility for social responsibility to maintain a strong position in a deregulated market. CSR integration with the corporate strategy is an important step concerning acceptance among the company’s stakeholders.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

The aims of the thesis were to study relationships between the effects of online gaming and gambling and negative social consequences and ill health among adolescents and to determine whether gaming and gambling activities occur together. The papers in this thesis used epidemiological methods to obtain self-report information from Swedish adolescents aged 13–18 years. Time spent in online gaming was associated with negative social consequences, and this relationship was explained by online gaming motives. Gaming for fun and social motives was associated with a reduced risk of negative social consequences, whereas gaming to escape problems, gain status, or meet demands from others was associated with an increased risk. Increased online gaming time on weekdays increased the probability of having depressive, musculoskeletal, or psychosomatic symptoms, and was related to online gaming motives. The probability of ill health was low in those who reported gaming for fun or social motives. Adolescents with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were more sensitive to gambling frequency and to developing a gambling problem. However, among those identified as susceptible, adolescents with ADHD were equally affected compared with other susceptible participants in terms of their gambling frequency. Boys had a higher probability than girls of participating in online gambling in association with online gaming. Having at least one parent born outside Scandinavia was associated with a higher probability of online gambling, especially among girls. The effect of alcohol use as a factor contributing to online gambling was greater among boys than among girls. The results of this thesis contribute new knowledge about sex differences in online gaming and gambling behaviours and add to the limited research on online gaming and online gambling behaviours among adolescent girls. Gaming motives may be helpful for identifying online gamers needing support to reduce their unhealthy gaming behaviour. Information about factors related to gaming and gambling problems may be of interest to clinicians in psychiatry, psychology and social work, as well as to policymakers, parents and teachers involved in adolescent health and development. Effect preventive strategies should consider the sex differences in gaming and gambling behaviour in adolescents.

Background: This study was driven by the belief in the need to expand our understanding of the experience of people with problem gambling. Although there are increasing studies in explaining problem gambling, there is a lack of studies from a meaning-making perspective. Most of the existing models explaining problem gambling place less emphasis on the surrounding system, such as family and peers, which may have an interactive relationship with one’s gambling behaviour. Besides, gambling studies with a focus on culture often involve participants of minority groups and non-mainstream status, which is different from the local context in a Chinese-dominant country. Hence it is worthwhile to understand people with problem gambling in the local context by consideration of their meaning-making toward gambling and their interaction with surrounding systems. Objectives: The study aims to develop understanding of the indigenous pathway(s) of becoming problem gamblers and how such problem behaviour is maintained. The main focuses of this study are how do males develop from social gamblers to problem gamblers, how do they experience themselves as problem gamblers, how may the differences in experiences result in different consequences, and what are some possible factors that initiate and maintain such process. Methods: With reference to the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, a qualitative research methodology was employed. In-depth interviews were conducted to allow the researcher to listen to the stories and the subjective experiences of the participants. A rich pool of data in the forms of narratives and sketches of gambling history timelines was collected. QSR NVIVO software was used to help data analysis. Results: The findings revealed how these men experienced the relationship with gambling and made meaning toward their gambling behaviour. Six stages, engagement, enjoyment, immersion, entrapment, separation and termination, were identified with reference to their meaning-making toward gambling. It was identified that there are dynamic interactions among the relationship with gambling, intra-personal relationship and interpersonal relationships in each stage. Vulnerability factors, maintenance factors and exiting factors, which have their roles in driving individuals from one stage to another, were identified and used as significant indicators for the typology of people with gambling problems. This study constructed a five-group typology: a chronic emptiness group, an overly-dependent group, an overly self-demanding group, a prolonged interpersonal distressed group and a brief and intensely distressed group. A process model of Chinese Hong Kong male problem gambling was proposed, which has significant implications for theoretical knowledge and practice. Conclusion: This study makes a significant contribution by widening our understanding of the experience of people with problem gambling. It informs us of the important role of meaning making toward gambling and what purpose gambling has served for the people. Meanwhile, it proposes the importance of looking into the interaction dynamics among one’s relationship with gambling, intrapersonal relationship and interpersonal relationships. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Research has demonstrated that problem gambling is associated with substance and alcohol abuse (Petry, Stinson, & Grant, 2005), participation in criminal activities (McCorkle, 2002; Meyer & Stadler, 1999), and involvement in the criminal justice system (NORC, 1999). This study assessed problem gambling and its relation to crime and substance use within a population in which these risk factors are compounded: Adults mandated to participate in drug and DUI courts. Results indicate that the prevalence and severity of problem gambling may be higher within this population than any other. Furthermore, the results of qualitative and quantitative analyses converged to highlight that gambling, crime and substance use are interrelated behaviors, as each may lead to and/or reinforce the other. These findings suggest that problem gambling is a salient issue among substance-abusing offenders and that resources should be dedicated to screening those involved with the criminal justice system for problem gambling, establishing evidence based best practices in the prevention and treatment of problem gambling within this population, and that such practices may incorporate components addressing gambling, crime, and substance use.

This dissertation consists of three essays on the role of social values in financial markets. Chapter 1 uses geographic variation in religious concentration to identify the effect of people's gambling behavior in financial market settings. We argue that religious background predicts people's gambling propensity, and that gambling propensity carries over into their behavior in financial markets. We test this conjecture in various financial market settings and find that the predominant local religion predicts variation in investors' propensity to hold stocks with lottery features, in the prevalence of broad-based employee stock option plans, in first-day returns to initial public offerings, and in the magnitude of the negative lottery-stock return premium. Collectively, our findings indicate that religious beliefs regarding the acceptability of gambling impact investors' portfolio choices, corporate decisions, and stock returns. In Chapter 2 I examine the impact of social norms against holding certain types of stocks (e.g. "sin stocks", or stocks with lottery features) on trading decisions and portfolio performance. I argue that trades which deviate from social norms are likely to reflect stronger information. Consistent with this hypothesis, I find that the most gambling-averse institutions earn high abnormal returns on their holdings of lottery stocks, outperforming the holdings of the most gambling-tolerant institutions. An analysis of institutions' sin stock holdings provides complementary evidence using another dimension of social norms, supporting the hypothesis that trades which deviate from norms reflect stronger information. In the third essay, we conjecture that people feel more optimistic about the economy and stock market when their own political party is in power. We find supporting evidence from Gallup survey data and analyze brokerage account data to confirm the impact of time-varying optimism on investors' portfolio choices. When the political climate is aligned with their political preferences, investors maintain higher systematic risk exposure while trading less frequently. When the opposite party is in power, investors exhibit stronger behavioral biases and make worse investment decisions. Investors improve their raw portfolio performance when their own party is in power, but the risk-adjusted improvement is economically small. / text

published_or_final_version / Journalism and Media Studies Centre / Master / Master of Journalism

published_or_final_version / abstract / Psychiatry / Master / Master of Philosophy

This study investigated the normalisation of gambling within the New Zealand context to explore whether an ausugenic environment exists, using qualitative interviews in combination with a self-ethnography. An ausugenic environment is one where gambling has become embedded in the cultural attitudes and behaviour of a society to the extent that it is no longer considered to be an abnormal or noteworthy activity. In order to investigate this two phases of qualitative interviews were conducted with the first being with members of the public who were also asked to record a diary of gambling related things they noticed over the course of a weekend. To better understand the results for diary participant responses, the researcher underwent the same diary keeping process during the same weekend while also revisiting locations described by the participants to validate their reports. The second phase involved interviews with counsellors from the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand to explore their attitudes towards gambling and experiences that their clients who were most affected by gambling in New Zealand. The outcomes of this research were two conceptual models that propose how individuals normalise gambling behaviour personally as well as how society both creates and perpetuates an ausugenic environment. This study also discusses the concept of environmental normalisation as a development upon advertising wearout theory. It suggests that individuals may become blind to attitudes and stimuli within their environment after prolonged periods of exposure through many different sources. The idea that this may be not simply something that advertisers seek to avoid as is classically thought, but implemented as a deliberate strategy for organisations seeking to gain wide acceptance of their product or service is also proposed. The study ten seeks to make significant contributions towards the betterment of society through use of the findings to recommend policy alterations the New Zealand Government should implement and suggest alternative ways that the treatment of problem gambling is addressed in future.