CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
The concern of this thesis
has been the pathologising of the people who experience difficulties with poker
machine playing. To fulfill the purpose of the study, that is to depathologise
these people, the aim of the research has been to show that problems caused by
poker machine playing are located in the gaming industry, and they and the
governments are responsible for the deleterious impacts of the activity. The
hypothesis guiding the research was that ‘rather than being the result of
pathology within the individual, problems experienced with poker machine
playing are a natural outcome of involvement in the activity’.
CONCLUSIONS
It is concluded here that
the purpose of this study, which was to depathologise those people experiencing
difficulties with poker machine playing, has been fulfilled. The guiding
hypothesis – ‘Rather than being the result of pathology within the individual,
problems experienced with poker machine playing are a natural outcome of
involvement in the activity’ has been supported by the research.
The study has shown that
gamblers experiencing problems with poker machine playing are ‘normal’ people
who are at different stages on a process of involvement in an activity that is
structured for the punters to lose, but is represented as economically
profitable for the gambler. With the knowledge of the human sciences, poker
machines are structured with a purposefully selected constellation of
psycho-structural characteristics which incite ‘normal’ human responses to
continue to play: a continuance which guarantees financial demise (Chapter
Four). The responses are potentialities in all of us, as are the gambling
elements of risk and chance. The questionnaire survey results (Chapter Seven)
clearly illustrated that involved gamblers are a reflection of the
psycho-structural characteristics of the machines, for these gamblers increased
their gambling time, frequency and expenditure, which meets the goal of the
gaming industry. Like-wise, the machines are a mirror of inherent human
potentialities. Poker machines are programmed for inevitable financial loss,
with continuous play guaranteeing gamblers’ financial demise. It is the
financial demise that is the cause of the gambler’s distress and downfall. Thus
problems experienced with poker machines are a ‘natural’ outcome of the
activity, and not an aberration.
Even
That the gambler holds
false beliefs about the activity is evident because, although a rational
decision, they continue the futile process of recouping losses. However, the
false beliefs are the result of the misinformation given by the gaming industry.
The false beliefs are incited by ‘blatantly dishonest’ advertising and
constantly reaffirmed in the closed environment of the venues. Rather than
irrational thinking, or being responsible for their ‘false beliefs’, gamblers
are in a constant state of dissonance, which is caused by the contradiction
between the gamblers actual experiences of losing money, and the
extensive duplicitous messages from the gaming industry at the political,
social, media, and operational levels in venues and the poker machines.
The study has clearly shown
why the gamblers attract the pathological labels. Firstly, it suits the vested
interests of the gaming industry and governments. Secondly, the gambling
research, and the raison d’etre of the helping services, are underpinned
with psychological individualistic theories of behaviour. The literature and
services are under the rubric of mental health, and the mental health industry
is a powerful form of social control as it is the legitimated definer of
society’s mental health.
The claims made by the
gaming industry and particular political representatives to protect their
vested interests have been disputed throughout the thesis. Instead of the
gambling population consisting of a ‘social majority’ and a ‘pathological few’,
the social majority contain gamblers undergoing the debilitating process of
financial loss, thus the quantitative statistics used by the gaming industry to
legitimate itself is seriously diminished. The qualitative division has also
been diffused, for rather than ‘pathological’, those gamblers experiencing
problems are ‘normal;’ folk who are suffering the natural outcome of an
activity which guarantees financial ruination. The survey results (Chapter
Seven) indicated that there were no significant differences between gender in
gambling behaviours, and that problem gambling cuts across socio-economic
strata (Chapter Two), which also supports the diffusion of the categorised
differences. Gamblers earn the pathological labels when reporting to services.
The services’ framework for diagnosis suits the vested interests of the gaming
industry, for the problem gamblers can be scape-goated and held individually
responsible for the social issue of problem gambling. Thus the gaming industry
is legitimated, exonerated of responsibilities and can continue to expand
without changes.
The gaming industry claims
that poker machine playing is a ‘leisure activity of choice’. This
thesis has shown clearly that the entire activity of poker machine playing and
its environment is characterised by contradiction, misinformation, powerful
manipulation, and entrapping coercive methods to extract the gambling dollar,
all of which amount to psychological abuse. The observation of the venues
clearly showed the selective information both omitted and provided to its
patrons. Freedom of choice is dependent upon the opportunity to make informed
decisions. The gaming industry’s claim that poker machine playing is a leisure
activity of ‘free choice’ is thus refuted.
The industry also claim
that their advertising and marketing strategies are selected to lure the
recreational gambler and promote social gambling only. However, the advertising
and marketing strategies are designed to appeal to basic human financial and
affective needs which are inherent in all of us. However, paradoxically, the
advertising is selective. It holds a particular appeal to those whose life
choices are seriously diminished because of structural poverty and financial
struggle. Poker machines represent for many, the only way out of poverty. The
industry’s claim that they only wish to attract the gambler who can afford the
activity is seriously disputable. The methods employed by the venues to ensure
gamblers spend all of their money (for example, Eftpos machines placed in
Hotels) and the strategies used to incite continuous play (for example, methods
used by the venues to keep people at the machines, and the structural
characteristics of the machines), certainly did not discern between those who
could afford to gamble and those who could not.
Although the gaming
industry, as demonstrated by the respondents to the questionnaire survey, has
been successful in changing people’s view of gambling, from ‘gambling’ to
‘leisure’ through their newly formed social heading, the term ‘leisure’ is
duplicitous. As a leisure product, poker machine playing is a different product
from other leisure activities, for example football, golf, or the movies
because machine playing guarantees financial ruination. Also, unlike ‘other’
leisure products which are presented in their true form, (after all football is
football), poker machine playing is not the economically viable and leisure
activity that it is constructed to represent. Even if speed car racing is a
form of leisure to some, the danger of the activity is at least known and
openly publicised, and the drivers are aware of what to expect.
The field observation
brought the notion of ‘social’ activity into question as well. It was observed
tha the activity was insular, isolating and competitive (Chapter Six).
Finally, the claim made by
the gaming industry that their actions are in no way related to the development
of excessive gambling, a claim which exonerates the industry of any
responsibility, has been disputed. There is a direct relationship between the
introduction of poker machines and the rise in problem gambling (Chapter Two).
However, this study has demonstrated that the relationship between the gaming
industry and the gambling-related problems is far more extensive than just the
introduction of the activity.
At all levels the gaming
industry has an unmitigated direct relationship with the development of
gambling-related problems. At the political level rhetoric of legitimation
ensures that society views gambling as a safe and legitimate activity. At the
social level the activity is promoted as a profitable leisure activity of
choice. Thus people are manipulated into participating in an activity which
guarantees financial demise for them, but significant profits for the industry.
Manipulation, which reinforces the safety and legitimacy of the industry,
continues as the individual ‘problem’ gambler is labelled ‘deviant’ and held
responsible for gambling-related problems. At the operational levels in the
venues and the poker machines the gambler is directly psychologically abused
into losing their money. In fact, the study has clearly shown that the causal
factors for gambling problems lie within the gaming industry.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
When a government
introduces legalised gambling it is placing economic objectives over social
concerns, a priority which is inherent is economic rationalism. Framed in
advanced corporatist economic rationalist values and principles, and
underpinned with extreme individualism the new gambling package is detrimental
to the social fabric of our society. The structural analysis of the ‘commercial
gaming package’ revealed that the ‘social virtue’ is an illusory concept.
Rather than a catalyst for economic growth, commercial gaming is a vertical
redistribution of finances from the communities to the entrepreneurs and
corporations. The communities are the bedrock of the gambling dollar. Thus the
disparities between the rich and poor which is already increasing (Jamrozik,
1991) as a result of the governments’ adoption of advanced corporatist economic
rationalist policies and engagement in the global economy, are particularly
accelerated by the gaming industry. In addition a new group of people, who have
never needed help from services or the welfare system, are now recipients of both
(Chapter Two).
That the governments have
increased their tax base of obvious (Chapter Two). However, a society’s
economic structure being built on the gambling tax dollar, which is a tax
extracted from a product which is simply a redistribution of resources, rather
than a facilitator for economic growth, is likely to culminate in the short
term benefits of the increased tax revenue being outweighed by the negative
economic and social impacts of gambling, which as illustrated in Chapter Two
are increasing.
‘Experience in several
industries has shown that profit-seeking corporations only confront the harmful
social effects of their activities when governments compel them to do so’
(Braithwaite and Grabosky, 1986, in McMillen, 1990, p.17). Given that the gaming
industry is state sponsored, government intervention that protects society from
the gaming industry is highly unlikely. Further, governments do not accommodate
corporate wishes, the corporations ‘leave town’. The power of the gaming
industry, and the reticence of governments to intervene is already demonstrated
by the fact that recommendations such as placing clocks in gaming rooms,
natural lighting, and the removal of Eftpos machines, that were made by
services not long after the introduction of poker machines have not been
implemented (Chapter Six).
For those experiencing
financial ruination from poker machine playing, the results are devastating
(Chapter Three). The gamblers’ distress is compounded because they are then
subjected to pathological treatments which ‘discover’ and focus on personal
deficits. They are then individually blamed for the social issued of
gambling-related problems.
Besides containing
concerning economic and social implications, the situation is also open to
moral judgements regardless of an individual’s personal views on gambling.
Combining the facts that economic loss for the punter is programmed into
machines, and the probability of winning the Jackpot is minimal, with the
constellation of psycho-structural characteristics of the machines which incite
natural responses of continuous and persistent play, we have a potentially
dangerous financial situation. Add the facts that poker machines are presented
as financially profitable, and marketing strategies are designed to not only purposefully
seduce every-one into playing the machines, but to incite persistent playing
(for example, as described in Chapter Six, the strategies used by the venues to
keep people at the machines), to the massive profits being made by the
entrepreneurs, hoteliers and corporations from poker machine playing, the
situation is without doubt exploitation. Add the fact that those whose
financial demise provides for the gaming industry’s profits, and who are doing
exactly what the gaming industry have set out to incite, that is feed their
life savings into the machines, are then scape-goated in order to legitimise
the industry and protect their vested interests, the situation is morally
reprehensible.
IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL
WORKERS
More often than not, people
do not present to services with gambling as the problem because of the felt
shame, and/or believe that they will not get assistance (food, money) if the
service is aware that ‘they gambled all their money away’. Gambling issues are
still under the rubric of the ‘deserving poor’ and the ‘undeserving’ poor. Nor
do gamblers report until their resources are exhausted.
It is therefore vital that
social workers be aware of the newly created problem gambling issue and include
it in their repertoire of other social issues for example, poverty, domestic
violence, child abuse. Because of the devastation, and the ensuing feelings –
suicide, guilt, depression, anxiety, shame the approach used by social workers
is required to be sensitive. However, it must also be gently open to the
possibility that gambling is the problem.
The social work profession
in our political and social environment provides for many ethical and value
dilemmas for social workers. Excessive gambling could see social workers
experience value conflicts. Excessive gambling can involve domestic violence,
child abuse and neglect, which are social issues many social workers confront
daily. However, gambling is primarily about ‘money’. During the process of
involvement gamblers eventually hold a different value system regarding money
(Chapter Three). Money is for gambling, not for necessities of life. Given that
social workers are mainly drawn from the middle classes, their values regarding
money could be severely tested by the extreme financial losses incurred from
gambling. It is possible that for some, understanding, empathy and
unconditional positive regard might require an understanding of the process of
gambling, and the worker’s self-reflection regarding his/her value of money.
Understanding, empathy, and
unconditional positive regard also require a framework containing the
structural approach to social work. Otherwise these attributes can become
translated into pathologising and victimising strategies of only ‘counselling’
the victim and/or teaching them budgeting skills. In order not to ‘treat’ the
gambling problems in isolation of structural causes, it is essential that the
structural causes of excessive gambling be the social worker’s world-view.
The pursuit of social
justice is a core-principle of the social work profession (Australian
Association of Social Work, 1994). Social work values hold an obligation to
protect members of society from harm. Therefore, the values and principles
inherent in the social work profession compel workers to challenge the
government and the gaming industry, in conjunction with depathologising those
presenting to services. Following are suggestions for social workers and the
profession to combat the gambling issue.
Suggestions
- Lending support to anti-gambling voices – The
‘No-Pokies Campaign’, Church groups
- Researching the gambling industry’s ploys rather
than the victim’s motivations or devastation
- Acquiring the knowledge needed about the gaming
industry, and then informing the clients of how they have been deceived –
the raising of consciousness.
- Writing effective case-notes. Case-notes can
read ‘Jane was given wrong information by the gaming industry regarding
the possibility of winning money. She was also coerced through
manipulation and abuse of the human sciences into persisting in playing
the poker machines – a relationship which the gaming industry is well
aware of’. By reporting that ‘Jane is suffering from severe depression due
to a relationship breakdown, and became addicted to the poker machines’,
maintains a focus on the victim, and translates into pathology.
- It is vital for social workers to verbally
communicate the structural issues of gambling. Within their personal and
professional life, social workers can continually frame the gambling
problem as a structural issue. In particular messages to media. Instead of
exacerbating on what gamblers do, reports to the media must contain the
structural issues. For example, instead of reporting that gamblers steal
money from their children’s money boxes, steal caravans, cars, and
embezzle their employees, social workers can report ‘The government and
the gaming industry have misinformed our clients regarding the economic
value of poker machine playing. Our clients made rational decisions in
deciding to play poker machines. However, poker machines are programmed
for punters to lose, the gaming industry purposefully incite persistent
playing’. Focus on the excessive gamblers keeps the industry safe from
exposure and attention. It also exacerbates the opportunity to further
pathologise the victims as they are then judged by prevailing value
systems.
- A new social heading also can be constructed.
Terms such as addiction, compulsive, neurotic, excessive can be avoided
and replaced by a term that does not implicate the pathology of the
gambler.
CHAPTER 1: THE SCAPE-GOATED
CHAPTER 2: FROM A SIN, TO A VICE, TO A DISEASE, TO A SOCIAL VIRTUE
CHAPTER 3: TWO TYPOLOGIES OF GAMBLERS? A LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER 4: POKER MACHINES– THE LETHAL MONEY STRIPPERS
CHAPTER 5: THE SCAPE-GOATED
CHAPTER 6: THE FIELD OBSERVATION
CHAPTER 7: QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY
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