Virve Marionneau

Commercial gambling is a recent historical phenomenon. It has developed into a profitable industry that supplies a range of recreational activities to its customers, and is a significant way of collecting money from players to distribute to companies, state budgets, and other beneficiaries. Many of these are civil society organizations, using the money for producing services in sports, culture, social work, and health care. However, gambling can also develop into pathological behaviour. Using a public interest framework, this book discusses the policies that will best serve the public good and minimize individual and collective harms. After describing the historical context of the gambling and the current global burden of the activity, available methods of regulating the industry are evaluated using the available scientific evidence. By analysing the effectiveness of gambling policies and their alignment with the public interest, the epidemiological obstacles to successful regulation are considered in detail. There is good evidence for the effectiveness of restrictions on availability and access, but preventing gambling-related harm is not possible without limiting the overall volume of the activity, and hence the profits for the gambling industry and governments. Taking an international approach, this book delivers a comprehensive review of the epidemiological evidence documenting the harmful effects of gambling on individuals, communities, and societies. Essential reading for policymakers, social and behavioural scientists in gambling research, and public health researchers, Setting Limits examines a global view of an emerging epidemic of gambling problems.

This book takes a close look at online gambling, a rapidly growing industry with the potential for significant social harm. Exploring multiple-perspectives - including the experience of consumers, the industry itself, the challenges of research, and the importance of regulation – the book is the first to draw on sociological methods to give a more nuanced account of how the industry really works and the effect it is having on our social world. The book argues that online gambling is an important example of digital production of an addictive commodity with unique commercial determinants, including high profits, high availability, harmful product characteristics, and a digital-first business model that is networked with other addictive and digital industries. It explores key themes in digital gambling research, including consumer experience, online gambling products and online gambling production, the importance of data or surveillance capitalism, the possibilities and limits of regulating online markets, and the future of online gambling markets, and highlights the asymmetry between the industry and regulation in terms of access to, and ability to analyse, data. Examining the existing evidence and offering new empirical analyses, and containing examples, stories and research data in every chapter, this book is important reading for anybody with an interest in gambling, digital business, the sociology of leisure and consumption, addiction, data capitalism, social harm, governance, public policy, or regulation.