Responsible Gambling: A Scoping Review

Authors

  • Jennifer Reynolds Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5363-622X
  • Sylvia Kairouz Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8788-4456
  • Samantha Ilacqua Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University
  • Martin French Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cgs42

Keywords:

gambling, public health, scoping review, responsible gambling

Abstract

Gambling markets have drastically expanded over the past 35 years. Pacing this expansion has been the articulation of a governance framework that largely places responsibility for regulating gambling-related harms upon individuals. This framework, often defined with reference to the concept of responsible gambling (RG), has faced significant criticism, emphasizing public health and consumer protection issues. To study both the articulation and critique of the concept of responsible gambling, we conducted a ‘scoping review’ of the literature (Arksey & O’Malley 2005). Literature was identified through searches on academic databases using a combination of search terms. Articles were independently reviewed by two researchers. Findings indicate 142 publications with a primary focus on responsible gambling, with a high volume of publications coming from the disciplinary backgrounds of the first authors representing the fields of psychology, business, and psychiatric medicine. Further, publication key themes address topics such as responsible gambling tools and interventions, corporate social responsibility and accountability, responsible gambling concepts and descriptions, and to a lesser extent, critiques of responsible gambling. The scoping review of the literature related to responsible gambling suggests the need to foster research conditions to invite more critical and interdisciplinary scholarship in an effort to improve public health and consumer protection.

Author Biographies

Jennifer Reynolds, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University

Jennifer Reynolds is an FRQ-SC funded Postdoctoral Fellow at the Research Chair on Gambling, at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). Trained in public health at the University of Toronto, Dr. Reynolds has over 15 years research experience on the topic of gambling prevention, with an expertise in youth. Dr. Reynolds recently developed best practices for youth gambling prevention and has produced two documentaries as gambling prevention/education resources. Her current research projects focus on the convergence between gambling and gaming, examining the complex social and environmental interactions which shapes players experience, while also engaging young people in arts-based knowledge dissemination.

Sylvia Kairouz, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University

Sylvia Kairouz is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. She has published extensively in sociology, social epidemiology and public health journals and won the Brain Star Award of the Canadian Institute of Health Research for her innovative work on the role of social contexts in alcohol consumption. She is currently engaged in funded research examining comprehensive multilevel models of determinants of gambling. She has piloted six large population surveys in Quebec over the last five years and collaborates with scholars and key institutions in Quebec, Canada and internationally. She holds an FQRSC research chair on the study of gambling and is the head of the HERMES research team focusing on the online and digital forms of gambling games.

Samantha Ilacqua, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University

Samantha Ilacqua will begin her doctoral studies at Concordia University in September 2019. Her doctoral research will focus on the experience of patients with chronic illnesses as they attempt to navigate the health care system. In contrast, her Master’s research involved interviews and auto-ethnographic participant observation in an on-campus sexual assault resource centre. The purpose of this research was to examine a side of the issue of sexual violence on Canadian campuses that had yet to be thoroughly explored — that being the support side. Her experience in gambling studies began during her undergraduate degree, under the supervision of Dr. Sylvia Kairouz, and continued into the beginning of her Master’s studies.

Martin French, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University

Martin French is an associate professor with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. His research examines the social dimensions of technology with an empirical focus on communications and information technology (CIT). It emphasizes the broader social and political contexts of CIT, focusing especially on risk, surveillance, privacy, and social justice. Recently, Martin has embarked on a study of efforts to regulate ‘dangerous’, ‘risky’, and ‘contentious’ forms of digitally-mediated consumption. A key set of questions underlying this study concerns what might be termed the ‘gamblification’ of games, the incorporation of addictive, gambling-like retention mechanics into digital games.

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Published

2020-04-09

How to Cite

Reynolds, J., Kairouz, S., Ilacqua, S., & French, M. (2020). Responsible Gambling: A Scoping Review. Critical Gambling Studies, 1(1), 23–39. https://doi.org/10.29173/cgs42

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Section

Original Research Articles