Women and recreational gambling : a qualitative study of adult women and gambling

Abstract

"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire." Aristotle Gambling is one of the oldest activities known to human kind. In modem times the gambling industry has flourished with more potential for employment and tax revenues for governments. It has also become a popular means of entertainment accessed by both men and women in Western societies. There can be various reasons why people gamble but literature about recreational gambling and gender differences are still lacking. Although the majority of the gambling population equate gambling with leisure, most of the research done in this area is focused on pathological or compulsive gamblers. Adult women constitute a big chunk of the gambling population and this study focuses on Maltese women who pursue gambling as their recreational pastime. In fact this research is set out to explore the motivations of eight adult women, who go to gamble in Bingo Halls or at the Casinos on a regular basis. Given the stigmatisation that gambling practices endure in society, women who choose to go to gamble often feel that they are put in the same boat as compulsive gamblers. Through formal interviews, these women were given the opportunity to give their views regarding their motivation for gambling. This research shows that these women link gambling with entertainment and see it as a means of socialisation and relaxation in order to release their tensions from their daily routines. The findings of this study suggest that older Maltese women look at gambling as personal therapy which alleviates their loneliness and exclusion from the social world. This study has come to acknowledge a significant positive common factor in the respondents' way of conceiving gambling and in fact all respondents showed very responsible attitudes towards gambling. Women, like men, can be rational about their leisure choices and the topic of responsible gambling should feature more in studies on the subject. Future research should reflect more on contemporary gambling activities which are ingrained in the socio-economic, cultural and political society. Research on this topic should always include women because their experience and motivations are likely to differ from those of men.