Syftet var att undersöka hur handläggare inom socialtjänsten upplever sina förutsättningar att arbeta enligt socialtjänstlagen gällande missbruk av spel om pengar. Sju handläggare från sex kommuners vuxenenheter deltog i kvalitativa intervjuer. Resultatet visade att de flesta informanter upplever sig ha goda förutsättningar att utföra sitt arbete på ett adekvat sätt. Detta uppgavs bero på såväl individuella som kontextuella faktorer. Resultatet visade även att informanterna arbetar på olika sätt och att få använder rekommenderade metoder. Informanterna angav att de i första hand överväger om klientens hjälpbehov kan tillgodoses genom öppenvårdsinsatser. En majoritet uppgav sig ha tillräckliga kunskaper om spelproblem, den reviderade socialtjänstlagen och socialtjänstens utökade ansvarsområde. Samverkan med hälso- och sjukvården beskrevs vara utmanande. Den främsta fördelen med lagändringarna uppgavs vara möjligheten att hjälpa fler människor. Studiens viktigaste slutsatser var att förebyggande arbete och samverkan mellan olika huvudmän bör prioriteras i högre utsträckning. / The aim was to examine how social workers perceive their prerequisites to work according to the social services act regarding gambling addiction. Seven social workers from six municipalities were interviewed in a qualitative study. The result showed that most feel that they have good prerequisites due to both individual and contextual factors. The results also showed that the informants work differently and that few use recommended methods. The informants stated that they primarily consider whether the client's needs can be met through outpatient care. A majority stated that they have sufficient knowledge of gambling problems, the revised social services act and the social services' expanded area of ​​responsibility. Collaboration with health care was described as challenging. The main benefit of the legislative changes was stated to be the opportunity to help more people. The study's most important conclusions were that preventive work and collaboration between authorities should be prioritized.

The aim of this study was to reach an understanding and examine the experiences people with gambling addiction had related to their help-seeking or the absence of it. More precisely we wanted to examine reasons for not seeking help but also explore what motivates people with gambling addiction to seek help. To capture these individual experiences we have used a podcast called “Bettingtorsken” as our empirical material. The podcast contains interviews with people that has experienced the negative consequences of gambling. The method of the study was a thematic content analysis, where codes and patterns in the material led us to develop relevant themes. Five themes were identified that seemed to play an important role to their help-seeking or the absence of it, those were: the importance of the environment, obstacles, motivating factors, mental health and secrets. The result showed that people with gambling addiction is motivated by the willingness to be honest. The results also suggest that the consequences must be really serious before they are motivated in seeking help. Furthermore the results indicate that mental health can be both an obstacle and a motivational factor regarding the willingness of help-seeking. Another important result suggests that most people with gambling addiction thinks that secrets are in their way of help-seeking and that honesty is needed in the help-seeking process. Finally, results also showed that the environment could have both a positive and negative impact on the help-seeking, although the latter was most prominent. One example of a negative aspect is that people with gambling addiction experiences that authorities and the social network are nonchalant about the addiction.

The aim of this study was to get knowledge and understanding about the actions people do and the experiences they have in the two different lifeareas, family/relatives and workplace, when they have an ongoing gambling addiction. The study was conducted with a qualitative method based on literature studies on four autobiographies written by Swedish people with a gambling addiction, and the study had a sociological perspective. The results showed that gambling addiction leads to patterns of actions and emotions/thoughts in a downward spiral with common actions as lies and immorality, and emotions of shame. It also showed that the actions and emotions/thoughts emerged in the social interaction with other people in the lifeareas, and can therefore be seen as a sociological process.

Spelberoende är ett allvarligt folkhälsoproblem som förorsakar en rad negativa konsekvenser för individer, där spelberoendet ofta är kombinerat med samsjuklighet, vilket gör problematiken mer komplex. På grund av denna problematik är det viktigt att ta reda på hur behandlare uppfattar behandlingsmetoder. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka behandlares uppfattningar av behandlingsarbetet med personer som har spelberoende i kombination med samsjuklighet. Utifrån en kvalitativ ansats genomfördes sex semi-strukturerade intervjuer med behandlare. Materialet analyserades genom en tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att behandlarna belyser vikten av att integrera och anpassa olika metoder, teorier, besitta ett brett förhållningssätt och att samverka med andra aktörer för att kunna bemöta och behandla denna komplexa målgrupp. En slutsats är att behandlarna tycks ha en medvetenhet av behandlingsarbetet som tvärdisciplinärt där arbetet med olika behandlingsmetoder används eklektiskt. Studien påvisar behovet av ytterligare forskning och mer förebyggande arbete. / Gambling addiction is a public health problem that causes negative consequences for individuals, where gambling addiction is often combined with co-morbidity, which makes the problem more complex. Because of this problem, it is important to examinate how therapists perceive treatment methods. This study aimed to investigate therapists' perceptions of the treatment work, with people who have gambling addiction combined with co-morbidity. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with therapists based on a qualitative approach. The material was analyzed through thematic analysis. The results indicate that the therapists highlight the importance of integrating and adapting different methods and theories, having a broad approach and cooperation with other actors to treat this complex target group. A conclusion is that the therapists seem to be aware that the treatment work is interdisciplinary where the work with different treatment methods is used eclectically. The study demonstrates the need for further research and preventive work.

The aim of this study was to examine if the leaving of an abuse could be understood as a process, that incorporates both psychological and sociological parts. We collected our data through a qualitative method of reading autobiographies. The selection of materials was based on the autobiographies that dealt with substance abuse issues, where the selection was delimited to the autobiographies where the individuals had had an alcohol, drug or gambling abuse. The chosen material was written in Swedish, by the addict and after the individual had come out of their abuse. The reading of the material was based on a number of reading questions based on the study’s questions. Following the patterns we found from the reading, we formed a division of our results where eight themes were identified that seemed to play an important role when leaving an abuse: questioning, unsuccessful attempts, insight, turning point, a struggle, important help, new self and awareness. Our result was then analyzed against both psychological and sociological research to give different explanatory models of what we saw in the material. The psychologically oriented research talked about how an individual leaves addiction and how, for example, cognitive changes and turning points are central parts. The sociologically oriented research consisted of a theoretical explanation model about how an individual makes a role exit when, for example, he leaves an abuse where social factors such as environmental impact plays an important role. One of the study’s conclusions was that leaving an abuse could be understood as a process. Another conclusion was that the eight different steps of the process could include both sociological and psychological parts. Thus, through our study, we distinguished that leaving an abuse was not only influenced by one or the other approach, but that studies that illuminate and merge both psychological and sociological perspectives are needed. The study also shows the importance of bringing these two directions together in order to reach a full understanding of what the individual undergoes during his or her journey from an abuse.

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A lot of people like gambling. Even though it brings excitement, it has its dark sides as well. Problem gambling is a disease that destroys lives every day. As gambling are entering the digital domain, phenomenon such as E-sport has made it easier than ever to gamble. Therefore it is important to minimize the risk of gambling addiction among the users. At present time, as an attempt to make this possible, legislators have started to implement different rules on how companies need to deal with responsible gambling. A trend, that has become a problem, is that gamblers tend to not read warning messages that they get when they have been playing for a long period of time. This thesis is about producing recommendations for how to design these modal windows so that users actually take the time to read the information they receive. The methods used in this thesis are connected to the 6 phases of the design thinking process produced by Nielsen Norman Group and they were literature studies, interviews, prototyping and user testing. It was found that people with a previous gambling addiction wanted to see information about how much money they had spent in total on their account. That could also show more clearly how serious one's playing habits are. One cannot stop everyone from developing a gambling addiction, but one can give everyone a chance to become healthy.

Most gamblers never experience addiction and the majority of those who do eventually recover. This thesis investigates how most maintain control over their gambling and how the majority of those who do experience gambling addiction regain control. Findings are based on 25 qualitative semi-structured interviews with participants who fit one of three ideal-type groups: (i) gamblers who have never experienced addiction; (ii) gamblers who have regained control after experience of gambling addiction; and (iii) gamblers experiencing addiction at time of interview. Participants were recruited who had never engaged in formal treatment because existing research suggests most who experience gambling addiction and/or recovery never to do so. This study is underpinned by a synthesis of Bourdieusian theory and Foucauldian-inspired governmentality literature which was used to guide the thesis and help explain gambling behaviour. Taking a Foucauldian genealogical approach, the dominant theory of addiction as a biomedical disorder is critiqued and revealed to be myth. Instead, (gambling) addiction is demonstrated to be a social construction which becomes embodied within individuals and thereby influences gambling behaviour. Consequentially, it is shown that research concerning substance use is applicable to the investigation of gambling behaviours. Given paucity of gambling research, substance-related literature is drawn upon throughout the thesis. Attention is given to research demonstrating regulation over drug use to be influenced by the social settings in which consumption takes place as well as the wider social and cultural milieus in which the lives of actors are embedded. Moreover, particular appreciation is given to literature indicating recovery from addiction to be supported by shifts in socio-cultural milieu. In contrast to most existing addictions/gambling research, the agential capacities of gamblers to shape their own behaviours, albeit in ways heavily constrained by context (or ‘structure’) are emphasised throughout the thesis. Data revealed various gambling-related strategies to help constrain gambling and minimise harm. These are examined and it is recommended that this knowledge could be used to aid development of more effective ‘harm-reduction’ style interventions and policies in ways which support less harmful patterns of gambling behaviour. However, although valuable, those with greater control tended to rely little on such strategies to manage their gambling. Instead, greater control over gambling and recovery from gambling addiction was found to have less to do with how participants gamble (e.g. whether or not they followed harm-reduction strategies) and far more to do with the wider, non-gambling-related, aspects of their lives and the nature of their subjectivities/dispositions. Principally influential were found to be the qualities of interviewees’ socio-cultural milieus. Alongside gambling, those with greater control tended to participate in non-gambling-related communities with attendant ways of thinking and cultural expectations (values/norms) that marginalise (heavier) gambling. Drawing on Bourdieusian and Foucauldian governmentality theory, it is argued that, because of their day-to-day participation in such communities/milieus, those with greater control embody mentalities and expectations which discourage riskier gambling behaviour. This, in turn, results in more ‘prudential’ subjectivities which discourage problematic gambling behaviour. Participants who had experienced recovery and many of those who had never experienced addiction revealed long-term reductions in gambling behaviour. Findings suggested these reductions (as well as recovery) to be supported by social and cultural processes, occurring over the life-course, which encourage increased participation in more ‘conventional’ life/milieus and thereby promote alterations in subjectivities in ways more conducive to control. A dual approach to discouraging problematic gambling behaviour is recommended. Although it is important to promote ‘safer’ ways of gambling (e.g. through promotion of harm-reduction style interventions and by designing gambling environments in ways to support greater constraint), it is also imperative to support the development of lives/milieus and subjectivities more conducive to control (e.g. participation in ‘conventional’ life and access to resources required to do so).

Title: Attitudes and motivations of young people towards sport betting Objectives: To find out which factors significantly influence sport betting in young Czechs between the age of 18 and 30. Methods: Due to the quantitative nature of the research, the only used method was electronic survey. The survey was based on the theory of planned behaviour. It primarily sought information on independent variables (predictors) within this theory, which are attitudes, subjective norm and perceived control (in connection with sport betting). This part was adopted from a similar previous research. The intention and behaviour of the respondents as response variables were also surveyed in order to describe the relationships between independent and response variables. The sample consisted of 122 respondents, mostly active betters. Statistical methods such as correlation and regression analysis were used, followed by a final path analysis, which provided a model visualizing the relationships between the crucial variables. Results: All of the examined predictors within the theory of planned behaviour influence the intention to bet - the values are 0,241 for attitudes, 0,335 for subjective norm and -0,410 for perceived control. The negative value means that those with higher perceived control have lower intention to...

This thesis is studying the current global as well as Czech gambling industry with the focus on internet gambling activities. The work begins with the description of various gambling activities. The focus is taken on the internet gambling activities with description of the specifics and the current European as well as US legal frame. Next part is dedicated to the psychology of gambling together with the pathological gambling addiction. In next part the thesis studies the current situation on the Czech market - history, main official legal providers as well as main grey market providers. Second part of the work is the case study of the launch of the internet lottery games by Fortuna Entertainment Group. This case study is based on a desk research of previous successful best practices in the internet gambling industry from all around the world.