Table Of ContentGambling in Everyday Life
T his book adopts a critical cultural studies lens to explore the entanglement
of government and gambling in everyday life. Its qualitative approach to
gambling creates a new theoretical framework for understanding the most
urgent questions raised by research and policy on gambling.
In the past two decades, gambling industries have experienced exponential
growth with annual global expenditure worth approximately 300 billion
dollars. Yet most academic research on gambling is concentrated on problem
gambling and conducted within the psychological and medical sciences.
Nicoll considers gambling at a moment when its integration within everyday
cultural spaces, moments, and products is unprecedented. This is the first
interdisciplinary cultural study of gambling in everyday life and develops
critical and empirical methods that capture the ubiquitous presence of
gambling in process of work, investment and play. The book also contributes to
the growing cultural studies literature on video and mobile gaming. In addition
to original case studies of gambling moments, products and spaces, in-depth
interviews and participant observations provide readers with an insider’s view
of gambling.
Advanced students of sociology, cultural theory, and political science,
academic researchers in the field of gambling studies will find this an original
and useful text for understanding the cultural and political work of gambling
industries in liberal and neoliberal societies.
Fiona Nicoll is a Professor at the University of Alberta where she holds
an Alberta Gambling Research Institute chair in gambling policy in the
Department of Political Science. The author of D iggers to Drag Queens:
Configurations of Twentieth Century National Identity (Pluto Press, 2001) and
founding member of the Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies
Association, she is co-editor of Transnational Whiteness Matters (Lexington
Press, 2008) and C ourting Blakness: Recalibrating Knowledge in the Sandstone
University (University of Queensland Press, 2015). In addition to numerous
peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on gambling, she has published
extensively on reconciliation, Indigenous sovereignty and whiteness in the
Australian context.
Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies
Women Do Genre in Film and Television
Edited by Mary Harrod and Katarzyna Paszkiewicz
Reclaiming Critical Remix Video
The Role of Sampling in Transformative Works
Owen Gallagher
Ecologies of Internet Video
Beyond YouTube
John Hondros
Panic, Transnational Cultural Studies, and the Affective Contours of Power
Edited by Micol Seigel
Ethnic Media in the Digital Age
Edited by Sherry S. Yu and Matthew D. Matsaganis
Narratives of Place in Literature and Film
Edited by Steven Allen and Kirsten Møllegaard
Unplugging Popular Culture
Reconsidering Materiality, Analog Technology, and the Digital Native
K. Shannon Howard
Advertising in MENA Goes Digital
Ilhem Allagui
Gambling in Everyday Life
Spaces, Moments and Products of Enjoyment
Fiona Nicoll
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/Routledge-
Research-in-Cultural-and-Media-Studies/book-series/SE0304
Gambling in Everyday Life
Spaces, Moments and Products of
Enjoyment
Fiona Jean Nicoll
First published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Fiona Nicoll to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-77743-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-77264-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Goudy
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is dedicated to gamblers, past and present and
future.
Contents
List of Figures x
Acknowledgements xi
Preface xiii
Introduction: Gambling in Everyday Life 1
Gambling in Everyday Life: Signposts in the Literature 3
Gambling Is Ordinary 7
Governmentality, Gambling, and Everyday Life 14
Finopower: Transforming Intersections Between Gambling,
Finance, Work, and Play 18
Methodologies 25
Structure 31
Chapter Outline 32
Conclusion 33
1 This Is (Not) a Book on Problem Gambling: Enjoyment
Beyond the Figure of the Problem Gambler 40
Introduction 40
What’s the Problem With Problem Gambling Research? 43
Fixing Pathologies: Addiction and the Cultural Politics of
Taste 49
Gambling Beyond the Zone: Enjoyment in Everyday Life 57
Where Is the Joy? 67
Conclusion 71
2 Cultural Spaces of Gambling 76
Introduction 76
Transforming Gambling Spaces 79
Statey Spaces of Gambling 84
Accommodating Casino Resorts 90
viii Contents
Crown Sovereignty 95
The “Pokie Lounge” as an Everyday Cultural Space of
Gambling 100
Strategies and Tactics in the Pokie Lounge 108
Conclusion 111
3 Cultural Moments of Gambling 115
Introduction 115
Transforming Gambling Moments 121
Gender, Time, and Gambling in Everyday Life 126
Gambling at Work 135
On Winning the Lottery 140
National Gambling Moments: Melbourne Cup Day
Celebrations 147
Conclusion 157
4 Cultural Products of Gambling 160
Introduction 160
Gambling Systems 166
Transforming Gambling Products: The Rise of the Electronic
Gambling Machine 170
Online Wagering Platforms 173
Gaming or Gambling? Capitalizing on Play 177
Gambling on Financial Products 181
Conclusion 188
5 Governing Gambling in Everyday Life 193
Introduction 193
Transforming Architectures of Regulation 193
Are EGMs Gambling Products? 197
Consumer Advocacy: Reading Gamblers’ Stories as
Testimony 208
Sacrifice and Scapegoating: The Finopolitics of Problem
Gambling 217
Problem Gambling Beyond the Individual: Defending
Communities From EGMs 219
Extractive Industries and the Constitutional Grounds of
Democracy 223
Regulating Gambling Research 233
Conclusion 237
Contents ix
Postscript 242
Transforming Gambling Spaces 245
Transforming Gambling Moments 246
Transforming Gambling Products and Services 246
Transforming Gambling Research Ethics 247
Amplifying the Joys of Gambling in Everyday Life 248
Appendix 250
Index 252
