Tracking the westernization of urban Aboriginal gambling in Canada’s Prairie Provinces

Abstract

North American Aboriginals have an extensive cultural history of gambling. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of modern western gambling on these traditional beliefs. This is the first large-scale study of this issue in Canada. A total of 1114 Aboriginals in 15 cities in Canada’s Prairie Provinces were surveyed, with recruitment occurring at Native Friendship Centres, shopping malls and other locations where Aboriginals congregated. Results showed that ‘gambling’ to most urban Aboriginal people refers to western commercial forms, something distinct from historical traditions. Attitudes toward gambling were negative, except whether Aboriginal provision of western commercial forms was good or bad for Aboriginal people, where opinion was divided. Primary motivations for gambling were the same as for non-Aboriginals: to win money and for entertainment. Although attitudes and motivations were quite similar to non-Aboriginals, overall level of gambling participation was higher, especially for electronic gambling machines, instant lotteries and bingo. It is concluded that Canadian Aboriginals have a largely westernized orientation to western forms of gambling. The policy implication of this finding is that the factors predictive of gambling benefits as well as the factors predictive of gambling harm among Aboriginals do not appear to be culturally unique.

Keywords:

• Gambling
• urban Aboriginal
• Indigenous
• First Nations
• Canada

Notes

1. Indigenous North Americans of mixed First Nations and European race. Recognized as one of the official Aboriginal peoples by the government of Canada.

2. Inuit and Métis people normally do not live on reserves, although many live in communities governed by land-claims or self-government agreements.

3. In Canada, sports betting takes the form of ‘sports lotteries’, where bettors are required to bet on the outcomes of two or more games, as betting on the outcome of a single game is illegal.

4. The non-specific description of the survey was to avoid over-recruiting heavy gamblers and problem gamblers, as typically occurs when surveys are described as ‘gambling surveys’ (Williams & Volberg, 2009).

5. Ten people verbally confirmed being 18 or older, but then indicated they were less than 18 on the self-administered questionnaire. Similarly, 72 people verbally confirmed being Indigenous, but reported being non-Indigenous on the questionnaire. This latter group was excluded from the analysis.