THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF GAMBLING CAREERS Preliminary Analysis I: Beginning Gambling

Outline of presentation  Part 1  Update on progress  Study participants  Process of analysis using framework  Part 2  Beginning gambling

Aim of the study  Place gambling in its social context  How did we plan to do it?  Longitudinal qualitative research  Cohort design of 50 gamblers interviewed 3 times  Sample spilt into 3 groups: Problem gamblers in contact with services Problem gamblers not in contact with services Recreational gamblers Diversity in social class, ethnicity, age and gender

Update on progress – sweep 1  Started in February 2006 with planning day  Orientation phase – March to June 2006  Key informant interviews  Site visits  First Advisory Group meeting 3 rd May 2006  First interview June 2006, last interview May 2007

Progress – recruitment  Recruitment timeline  RCA & GA – May/June 2006 (12)  Posters/flyers – July/August 2006 (2)  Contacts from the award holder – June – December 2007 (3)  Bingo in Possil Park – October 2006 (10)  Recruiter – November 2006 (6)  Bookmakers – December 2007 (5)  Casino – 4 visits to 2 casinos (September 2006 – April 2007) (7)  Newspaper advert – February 2007 (5)

Progress – sweep 2  Interviews started in May 2007  30 conducted  3 set-up  5 unsuccessful  12 still to be completed  Fieldwork due for completion February 2008  Sweep 3 fieldwork starts February 2008, completed December 2008

Study participants – gender & age

Study participants – marital status

Study participants –employment status

Study participants - social class

Study participants – type of gambler

Study participants – type of gambling

Process of analysis using framework  Interviews digitally recorded and transcribed  Analysed using framework  Developed by QRU at NatCen  Matrix-based approach to analysis  Synthesise and condense verbatim transcripts  Ensures context of the information is retained  First stage is to develop a thematic framework  Series of thematic charts, each representing one key theme  What does our thematic framework look like?

Thematic framework  Chart 1 - Background information  Chart 2 - Beginning gambling  Chart 3 - Development of gambling career  Chart 4 - Current gambling  Chart 5 - Help seeking/stopping gambling  Chart 6 - Re-starting gambling  Chart 7 - Impacts of gambling  Chart 8 - Future  Chart 9 - Miscellaneous

Chart 2: Beginning Gambling  Family and friends gambling  First awareness of gambling  First experience of gambling

Emergent Themes  Age respondents first gambled/ first aware  Types of games they played  Who they played with (‘facilitator’)

Age: ranged from 4 – 28 years; most clustered around 8-9 years Type of gambling: bookmakers, bingo, arcades, watching sports/ racing on TV Who: ‘Facilitator’  most interesting & rich theme: – Family – Friends – Colleagues

Family Majority of respondents across all groups introduced to gambling by family Family culture of gambling & ‘generational transmission’ [M, 54]: Father gambled and ‘he passed it on to all of us’ [M, 51]: ‘The family all put on lines [bets] on a Saturday …so gambling was always part of my life..’ ‘…in the West of Scotland you’re brought up on a gambling and drinking environment…from an early age’

‘Family Transmission’ and Gender Females pass on gambling awareness to females; males to males. Females  mothers, aunts, sisters, grandmothers. Bingo & machines [F, 40]: Grandmother taking her & sister to bingo, buying them books but not letting them shout if they won [age 12] Males  fathers, uncles, brothers, grandfathers. Sports betting [M,35]: Sticking pen in paper to pick Grand National horse; father put on the bet for him [age 8]

‘Active’ and ‘Passive’ Transmission  Passive  observation of family gambling  Active  family actively facilitates gambling; includes child in their behaviour  Passive: [M, 72] ‘I always remember sitting on my grandfather’s knee and he would put on a line’ [on the Grand National].  Active: [M, 50]: ‘I used to take the family lines [bets] to the street bookie and he used to give all the kids that took the lines an old penny ….That’s when my gambling started: I would have a bet with the penny …it was fun in those days and I always thought I could win’ [age 6]

Family, Games & Gambling Problems Parental problems, age of onset & machines  predictors of problem gambling Associations: first awareness/ experience with arcade machines with parents on holiday  gambling problems [M, 48] Blackpool aged 8/9. Parents would go to a club and he would be given money to play on the 'puggy machines' to keep him occupied: ‘Every half an hour somebody would come out [of the club] and give me more money to play the puggy machines’.

Cultural Context Patterns of working class leisure Enjoyable associations of gambling  family holidays Associations most common with problem gamblers and respondents from lower socio-economic groups; very infrequent with recreational gamblers and respondents from higher socio-economic groups

Higher Socio-Economic Groups Different types of first experience, although still with family: – [M, 46] Remembers watching grandfather’s horse in its stables before race, age 4/5 – [M, 64] Family owned horses, went to races during boarding school holidays in ‘a flashy motor’ with a chauffeur, age 8

End Points  Social nature of gambling and problem gambling  Complexity of behaviour  Importance of environment:  Socio-economic class, gender, geography, family

Future themes….  Gambling culture(s)  Sociable aspects of gambling  Identity / self perception  Issues of control / agency