Dr. Bo Bernhard

Responsible Gambling Around the World: A Global Scan.

Responsible Gaming Around the World: A Global Scan (and a

“Vancouver Model”?)

Bo J. Bernhard, Ph.D.

Executive Director

But first, a personal history:

“Kid” Jordan

and friends… on the evolution of

gambling

On gambling and universality… • Gambling is commonly thought of as a

“historical and cultural universal” – all places, periods, and peoples.

• But as Per Binde (2005) has shown us:

On gambling research and universality… a “Vancouver Model”?

• UBC’s Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan’s recent salvo in Nature – a major challenge to psychology, economics, and indeed, to all of us

• 96% of psychology publications represent 12% of the world’s population.

• 2/3 of US psychology research: on American undergraduate students (“some of the most psychologically unusual people on earth”)

• This is, in a word, “WEIRD”…

WEIRD: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic

Henrich, et al’s challenge: • Is everything we learned in Psychology 101 wrong?!

• For example, the Fundamental Attribution Error – a “universal,” except for…

– “And yet, much of cognitive psychology emphasizes the centrality” of FAE

• Ellen Langer and Endowment Theory

Uh-oh… • So Americans, Canadians, Aussies, and Western Europeans are

WEIRD – and use very different analytical strategies (and perhaps gambling analytical strategies?) than non-Westerners

• Uh-oh: as we might predict, the vast majority of problem gambling research… – In the past five years, there have been 378 peer-reviewed problem

gambling studies in the literature.

– Of these, only 15 (4%) include non-Western research subjects in the subject pool (96% Western subjects)

– The “96% number” for the PG literature: 14% of the world’s population (psychology overall: 12%)

Culture matters • … the perils of global culture are familiar to those

who study the gaming industry.

• MGM Not-so-grand Opening, 1994:

You can’t even trust your professors…

• Singapore and uncritically “exporting” the Las Vegas model

• South Korea and uncritically “exporting” the manner in which social costs are handled

• Russia and gambling “drawings”

In this spirit…

• Let’s take a quick look around the gambling globe – for a few case studies of problem gambling, and how it is “treated” at a macro level in various gaming jurisdictions.

Australia • Australia likely stands alone as the global gaming jurisdiction

where gambling is the most controversial – and perhaps most “endangered” as a species.

• Never before, however, has the gaming industry faced a challenge quite like it faces right now, as culture and politics clash: in its parliament, several staunchly anti-gambling activists hold key positions of power, and have used their positions strategically in order to have the PG issue heard. – Things have calmed down, for now… – However, you know an issue has “arrived” when it hits the pop

charts…

The China/Macao nexus

• In the world’s most dynamic and rapidly-growing gaming industry, the problem gambling issue seems to be gathering momentum (even when it’s not labeled “problem gambling”) – Visa restrictions and PG – Often portrayed in media as a “corruption”

issue among businesspeople, rather than a psychological or health issue.

• But this is changing: recent regulatory requirements address RG in new ways

Indonesia – Excessive gambling as a moral-

religious issue

– Those who gamble “too much” are dealt with harshly and publicly

• Religious bans on gambling

• Punishment: public caning

• Gender issues

• (Meanwhile, Singapore takes advantage…)

Russia • Similarly harsh history of dealing with “gambling too much”! • On July 1, 2009, Russia went from massive levels of gambling

availability nationwide to four remote “gambling zones” (none of which have really been developed yet).

• Why did Russia decide to do this? Media content analysis (Vasiliev and Bernhard, 2011) – 1) “Two degrees of separation” problem gambling issues: Impacts

on the family, workplace, youth – 2) Mafia influence

• Finally “clean up the industry”

Singapore

• A new socio-economic model – and not just across Asia. • It is important to remember how this all began: the

Singaporean government required that all applicants for its two gaming licenses submit highly detailed and rigorous plans for the management of “social safeguards” – Without these safeguards, it was likely that gaming never

would have been legalized. – As such, the “Singapore third way” approach to legalization

path – legalization PLUS safeguards -- now has legitimacy and momentum

South Korea

• The world’s most fascinating gambling laboratory? • Domestic gambling bans -- except at Kangwon Land

– Domestic restrictions: 15 days/month – County restrictions: 1 day/month – A problem gambling treatment center in the parking lot.

• An interesting blend: monopoly profits paired with some of the most aggressive on-site PG programs in the world

Conclusions • Now that gambling is truly global, we can benefit

from careful study of successes and failures elsewhere in the gambling universe.

• Each country and culture has its own unique relationship with the gambling act.

• We no longer can talk about “gambling” or “the gaming industry” as if it were one, singular thing.

• This is especially true given where gambling is “headed” … (Everywhere! All at once!)

“Cathedrals of consumption” (Ritzer, 2010)

But will the cathedral remain (Eadington, 2010)?

So what might we do?

• In 2013, neglecting the vital construct of generalizability is especially sinful.

– Recommendation? Go. Go. Go.

– Global literacy: more important than ever

– In our field: A new “Vancouver Model?”

– The diversity of one’s N becomes even more crucial – let’s do this together?

So what might we do, part two? • The “bio-psycho-social” model – meant to imply a

comprehensive approach – in fact stops too short.

• This is especially true when cross-disciplinary, and cross-cultural thinking is a “now more than ever” requirement.

• A bio-psycho-social-sociological-economic model? – And why stop there? – Again, let’s do this together?

Stay in touch!

bo.bernhard@unlv.edu

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