The case for legalized gambling: how legal, regulated sports betting benefits society
Instead, it would encourage us to focus on how practices of gambling develop, and how harm reduction policy and practice could be used to reconfigure the landscape in which gambling practices do or do not take hold, see 75. A practice theory agenda for gambling research could also focus on questions about how pinup casino do spaces and places shape gambling practices. Paying attention to the spaces and places of gambling is an idea that draws on well-established knowledge from the social sciences that space matters and plays a crucial role in shaping the social world and influencing social outcomes 77, 78. Indeed Doreen Massey 77 argues that places do not have single but multiple identities, they are not frozen in time but are dynamic, and places are not enclosures with a fixed inside and outside.
BeGambleAware (UK-based, national influence)
Founded in 1983, the Responsible Gambling Council has led in promoting safer gambling practices and preventing problem gambling. Initially known as the Canadian Foundation on Compulsive Gambling, RGC is renowned for its research, education, and policy development. Through initiatives like the RG Check accreditation program and the Centre for the Advancement of Best Practices, RGC equips operators with evidence-based tools and guidelines to encourage responsible gambling environments. Responsible gambling organisations exist to promote safe gaming environments, ensuring that gambling remains a form of entertainment rather than a source of harm.
Responsible Gambling Collaborative
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) is a global watchdog for sports betting integrity and fraud prevention, representing Betway, 888Sport, Unibet, and other major sportsbook operators. While its core mission is protecting sports betting markets from match-fixing and corruption, IBIA has also expanded its efforts into responsible gambling. The EGBA’s Pan-European Code of Conduct on Responsible Advertising introduced industry-wide standards for responsible marketing, including age-gating mechanisms and advertising restrictions for minors. EGBA also encourages transparency and accountability, publishing annual reports detailing its members’ responsible gambling efforts, including self-exclusion, intervention strategies, and the use of responsible gaming tools across Europe. G4’s certification process involves comprehensive audits, staff training, and ongoing assessments to ensure operators actively reduce gambling-related harm. By obtaining G4 accreditation, operators not only demonstrate compliance with industry-best practices but also gain a competitive edge in regulated markets where responsible gambling is a key licensing requirement.
In this light, it may be informative to examine factors that propel young adults to gamble online, including the link between social casino gaming and online gambling. This is because there is increasing evidence of the role played by social casino games in precipitating online gambling (Wohl et al. 2017) and young adults are increasingly exposed to social casino games (Kim et al. 2016). Such research approaches would also need to consider important ethical questions relating to neuroscientific research 88 such as potential effects on participants from exposure to gambling stimulus, and provide relevant support services as necessary. Finally, Meier et al. 63 suggest that quantitative approaches to social practice research that quantify various elements of practice that shape a potentially harmful practice such as gambling could add new understanding.
eCOGRA (UK based, global standards)
Therefore, practice theory treats the abstract concept of social practices as the key unit of analysis. Although various actors and entities interact and overlap when practices occur, the primary focus in this approach is on the practices themselves and not simply on the individual human performers of a practice 55. The benefit of a practice theory approach arises from recognising the multifaceted and situated realities of the everyday ‘doing’ of things.
“I’m incredibly excited to move this forward and to really do some impactful things and to really expand the knowledge through the research and to create these evidence-based best practices and to really empower players with information,” said Jennifer Shatley, executive director of ROGA. Mentalhealthsupport, earlyintervention, ethical product design, and effective prevention strategies must be seen not as something to be pursued separately, but rather as interconnected elements of a broader responsible gambling ecosystem that achieves its designated goals. This is where evidence-based research comes in, and as I have mentioned already, the industry has become more open to it in the face of stiff regulation that has decided to do things its way.
With seven core principles and a tiered certification process, it ensures that lottery providers adopt meaningful player protection measures. Much like eCOGRA, the WLA incorporates responsible gambling within a broader focus on operational integrity, security, and industry best practices, offering certification as a sign of compliance. The European Gaming and Betting Association is a Brussels-based trade body that represents some of Europe’s largest private-sector iGaming operators, including bet365, Entain, Kindred Group, and Flutter Entertainment.
- As online sports betting becomes more accessible and socially acceptable, especially among younger fans, we can expect these problems to intensify unless we take decisive action now.
- The EGBA’s Pan-European Code of Conduct on Responsible Advertising introduced industry-wide standards for responsible marketing, including age-gating mechanisms and advertising restrictions for minors.
- Of this body of scholarship, Reefe’s survey of ‘Gambling in Traditional Africa’ is likely the most informative, though heavily reliant on colonial-era commentators.
- A practice theory agenda for gambling research could also focus on questions about how do spaces and places shape gambling practices.
While pecuniary benefits driven by unemployment, economic deprivation and poverty have been argued as being the most compelling drivers of gambling in Africa, the pursuit of pleasure or passion for sports and the opportunity for the game are relatively less important factors 83. For instance, football fandom in SSA often entails adopting one or more European clubs 35, commonly from multiple leagues (e.g. English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga). Such fandom frequently imports the rivalries and historical disputes that exist between these European clubs.
Practice theory refers to a broad paradigm of theoretical and methodological socio-material approaches to understanding everyday social practices using a socio-cultural lens 46, 48, 49. Practice theory provides a dialectic and relational framework for understanding mutual interactions between actors (any person or object that has agency) and the contexts and structures in which they operate. Andreas Reckwitz 46 defines social practices as ‘a routinized way in which bodies are moved, objects are handled, subjects are treated, things are described and the world is understood’ (p. 250). Therefore, social practices refer to everyday or regular practices or habits such as consumption of food 50, using energy in the home 51, or gambling 20, and the way that these are typically and habitually performed in society 48.
That is to give players the ability to voluntarily block themselves from accessing gambling sites licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). Established in 1997, GamCare has grown into a leading voice for responsible gambling, actively supporting those affected by gambling harm throughout the UK. The charity operates the confidential National Gambling Helpline, which is available around the clock. It also works closely with gambling operators, offering targeted training programmes and vital resources. GamCare’s highly respected Safer Gambling Standard certification sets a benchmark for operator accountability, encouraging the adoption of responsible gaming practices across the entire iGaming sector. The licensed casino business operator is prohibited from having a third party operate its casino business in the name of the licensed casino business operator.
It is argued that such technologies are designed to encourage excessive gambling, or what has been described by Schüll 35 as ‘addiction by design’. Technological advancement of EGMs has also led to the development of some with embedded skill elements. First, we appraise the existing gambling research landscape, and then introduce, define, and explain practice theory. Next, we outline how practice theory has been applied in other areas of social research and harm reduction policy and identify the utility of a gambling as social practice perspective.
