Ever since the National Lottery was introduced in 1994, there has been an increased prevalence of gambling in the UK. Technological innovation in this time has led to new ways in which people can gamble worldwide (e.g., internet gambling, mobile phone gambling and interactive television gambling), and increased accessibility to opportunities to gamble worldwide. The fastest growing form of gambling is internet gambling, however, little is understood in relation to the characteristics of internet gamblers, the psychosocial impact of internet gambling (e.g. problem gambling) and implications for public social policy. The overall aims of this thesis were to establish (i) what makes internet gambling potentially addictive, (ii) how is internet gambling located, accessed, and utilised by players, and (iii) what the salient structural and situational characteristics of internet gambling are and how these impacted (psychologically and socially) on peoples‘ lives. These aims were addressed through three stages of linked research utilising a multi-method design including a literature-based scoping study, in-depth interviews (n=40), and a comprehensive online survey (n=975) in order to triangulate the data to examine the psychosocial impact and potential addictiveness of internet gambling. The principal findings of this thesis noted certain structural characteristics have significantly more impact online than offline, and therefore the design of gambling websites can potentially manipulate gambling behaviour, thus making internet gambling potentially addictive. Gamblers were motivated to gamble online for the convenience, value for money, the greater variety of games, and anonymity. Inhibiting factors of online gambling included the reduced realism, the asocial nature of the internet, the use of electronic money, and concerns about the safety of online gambling websites. Predictors of online problem gambling were identified and included being male; having a disability; continued gambling after experiencing a near miss, lying about their age, engaging in two or more activities regularly, agreeing that internet gambling is more addictive than offline gambling.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:629239 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | McCormack, A. |
| Publisher | Nottingham Trent University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/279/ |
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