Desire and the consumption of danger: Electronic gaming machines and the commodification of interiority

Abstract

This article brings together disparate elements of commercialized mass gambling, briefly describing the consumption of local gambling using electronic gaming machines (EGMs) in the Australian state of Victoria, particularly its capital, Melbourne. It also reports on the fieldwork research involving conversations with 62 self-identified EGM ‘problem gamblers’. The article brings the empirical material produced by analysis of data and discussions into conversation with the social theory of Cornelius Castoriadis and others in order to explain some aspects of the rapidly developing social institution of commercialised mass gambling. The article seeks to ‘dig into’ the heart of the gambling transaction, as an act of dangerous consumption, in order to pursue understanding of the significance that this holds for the social individual, and for understanding of the role of desire in the commodification of the interiority of the subject, which, it is argued, lies at the core of dangerous consumptions.

• Social theory
• dangerous consumption
• problem gambling
• commodification

Notes

¹ Australian poker machines or EGMs need to be differentiated from slot machines that may be familiar in some other jurisdictions. Australian machines are fully electronic, controlled by buttons or touch-screens, and characterised by a capacity to bet on multiple lines (20 line machines are common) and using multiple credits (or multiples of the nominal denomination of the machine). They are capable of consuming well in excess of $1,200 per hour. Details of Australian style EGMs are described in PC (1999), Appendix X. This report can be accessed at www.pc.gov.au

² Data describing poker machine numbers, locations and revenue in this chapter were obtained from the website of the Victorian Office of Gambling Regulation (www.ogr.vic.gov.au). This has been superseded by the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation (www.vcgr.gov.au) but at the time of writing the VCGR website had not been fully built and the OGR website continued to provide data.

³ A more complete description of the EGM network can be found in Livingstone, Woolley and Borell, 2004.

⁴ As indicated by an Australian Bureau of Statistics composite index, the Socio-Economic Index for Areas, or SEIFA. This index is assembled from census data and produces a ranking for geographic areas; the higher the score, the more relatively advantaged an area will be. See ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2002). CDATA 2001 plus SEIFA add-on. www.abs.gov.au

⁵ That is, metropolitan Melbourne other than the centrally located City of Melbourne.

⁶ The Gambling Research Panel agreed that results of this aspect of the research could be communicated to the Dangerous Consumptions Colloquium II, 2004, via this article. The completion of the full report of this project is pending at the time of writing. It should also be noted that the Victorian Government announced in late 2004 that it would dissolve the Gambling Research Panel. I also thank the Gamblers’ Help services who assisted, and in particular the informants. Further details of informant characteristics were:

• Number – 62; Female – 46; Male – 16

• Average age – 48.4 years; range – 21 to 75 years

• Born in Australia – 48; in Europe – 9; in Asia-Pacific – 2; in USA – 1; in South Africa – 1; not disclosed – 1

• Average years of play – 9.5; range – 0.25 to 30 years (Poker machines have been available in New South Wales since 1956)

• Average years of problem play – 5.9; range 0.25 to 20

• Average weekly EGM expenditure – $1,284; range – $80 to $7,000 (with two outriders excluded – one who expended a substantial inheritance over a relatively brief period, and another who embezzled large sums which were gambled prior to his detection, conviction and incarceration)

• Median weekly EGM expenditure – $750

• Average EGM sessions per week – 3.6; range – 1 to 16

• Average time spent in EGM gambling – 14.8 h per week

• Occupations: Office or white collar, 19; home duties, 11; professionals and self-employed, 9; blue collar, 9; pensioners, 9; Tradespeople, 3; unemployed, 2.