Background
Gambling has traditionally been conceptualised as an issue of addiction and personal responsibility. While there are now clear public health models that recognise that gambling harm is caused by a range of socio-cultural, environmental, commercial and political determinants, government and industry messages about gambling are still largely personal responsibility focused. Given the well-recognised issues associated with personal responsibility paradigms, this study sought to understand how gamblers themselves conceptualised responsibility for gambling harm.
Methods
A qualitatively led online panel survey was conducted with 363 adult gamblers in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. Participants were asked to respond to what they thought were the causes of gambling harm, and what could be done to prevent harm. A reflexive thematic analysis was conducted.
Results
Six common tropes were constructed from gamblers’ responses: (1) Gambling in moderation; (2) Personal responsibility for rational behaviour; (3) Character flaws; (4) Personal responsibility to seek help; (5) More education is needed; and (6) Governments are responsible for action – but motivation and efficacy are questioned. Gamblers primarily understood gambling harm as being a matter of personal responsibility, and government responsibility was generally seen as limited to providing information to facilitate informed gambling choices.
Conclusions
This study demonstrates that gamblers’ perceptions of gambling harm are similar to the personal responsibility framings and tropes present in industry and government messaging strategies. Refocusing public communication strategies away from ‘responsible gambling’ messaging, and towards evidence-based approaches, will be an important part of addressing the harms associated with gambling.
Objective: To understand how policies developed by Local Government Authorities (LGAs) to address electronic gambling machine (EGM) harm are developed and implemented. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants from 15 LGAs in metropolitan Melbourne who worked in a role associated or aligned with gambling. An inductive thematic analysis was used to interpret the data. Results: Three key themes emerged. First, participants described a shift from addiction frameworks to public health policy responses to EGMs, which was driven by increasing EGM losses and the harms caused by EGMs to communities. Second, there was the role of stakeholder groups in the policy-making process, including the challenges associated with engaging the community. Finally, there were barriers and facilitators to policy development and implementation. Barriers included a lack of financial resources and legislative boundaries imposed by the State Government. Facilitators included whole-of-LGA approaches, supportive councillors and collaborative efforts. Conclusions and implications for public health: LGAs have made shifts towards public health responses to EGM harm. Initiatives to further support policy development and implementation could include imposing a levy on EGM losses to directly support public health prevention activities and implementing robust state-based regulatory frameworks that support LGA responses to EGM harm.
Objective: Research has demonstrated that gambling is becoming increasingly normalised for women. As limited research has sought to understand women's perspectives on this issue, we sought women's opinions about the factors that may contribute to the normalisation of gambling for women, and the strategies that may counter this normalisation.
Methods: Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 41 women in young and middle adulthood, aged 20‐40 years.
Results: Participants suggested that gambling was normal for women because gambling environments had been designed to appeal to women, newer technologies had removed the stigma of attending physical venues, and the growing equality and independence of women. To de‐normalise gambling, women suggested addressing the influential role of marketing, designing new public education strategies, addressing the availability and accessibility of gambling, and restricting engagement with gambling products.
Conclusion: This study highlighted women's perceptions of strategies to address the normalisation of gambling and the importance of providing risk information paired with broader policy reform and prevention initiatives to address the range of determinants that normalise gambling for women.
Implications for public health: Involving women in advocacy and understanding their perspectives is important in developing relevant public health responses to the normalisation of gambling for women.
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