Italian gamblers’ perspectives on the impact of slot machine restrictions on their behaviors

ABSTRACT

Worldwide, there are a few examples of laws seeking to reduce the availability of Electronic Gambling Machines, one being a regional law introduced in Piedmont in 2018 that limited the times and places where gambling is allowed, causing an overall decrease in gambling frequency and expenditure and a heated public debate. This study investigates gamblers’ opinions and perspectives on why and how the new regulation impacted their habits. ‘Gambling trajectories’ were explored through 60 in-depth individual interviews of adults differing in age, gender, social background, and gambling profile. The most widely reported impact on gambling trajectories was the interruption of the daily routine associated with going to tobacco shops or bars and using slot machines while buying coffee or cigarettes. From the gamblers’ perspective, removing EGMs from generalist shops reduces the impulse and opportunities to gamble, and can prevent the transition to problem gambling. These findings add to the qualitative understanding of the links between EGM availability, density, and problem gambling and contradict the industry’s rhetoric, endorsed by the Italian government, which holds that spatial and timing limitations on EGMs would only bring about a shift toward other games or places without affecting the habits of people experiencing gambling problems.

KEYWORDS:

• gambling trajectories
• EGMs
• gambling policies
• gambling availability
• qualitative methods

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the local health service work groups from ASL TO3 and in particular Dr Paolo Jarre who has made possible this study.

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Constraints on publishing

Authors declare no contractual constraints existing with regard to the submitted manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Notes

1. This information indicates the interviewees’ area of residence (TOW = Western outskirts of Torino; VS = Susa Valley; NO = Novara province) and the gamblers’ profile according to the PGSI (Problem Gambling Severity Index) score.

Additional information

Funding

The present study was funded by the Piedmont regional administration through the Fund for Compulsive Gambling pursuant to Law 208 of 28 December 2015, Article 1, clause 946 – Financial Year 2016.

Notes on contributors

Sara Rolando

Sara Rolando, sociologist, achieved her PhD at the University of Helsinki. She has been working at Eclectica since 2007 as a researcher and is a contract professor at University of Torino. Expert in qualitative, web-based, and comparative methods, her main research interests are alcohol, drugs, gambling, and other addictive behaviors.

Alice Scavarda

Alice Scavarda, PhD in Sociology, is a Research Fellow at the University of Turin. She is Adjunt Professor of Sociology of Health at the Second School of Medicine and of Sociology at the Department of Public Health and Pediatrics, University of Turin. Her research interests revolve around Disability, Mental Health, Addiction.

Federica Devietti Goggia

Federica Devietti Goggia, PhD in Clinical Psychology and Master in Transactional Analysis, deals with prevention, diagnosis and treatment of addictions; she works at the ASL TO3 Addiction Pathology Department, Collegno (Turin).

Marzia Spagnolo

Marzia Lydia Spagnolo, PhD in Clinical Psychology and Master in Group Analysis. Employed in Public Services Department of Addiction, ASLTO3 Collegno (TO). She is mainly focused on behavioral addiction: Gambling, Gaming, Food Addiction, Binge Eating.

Franca Beccaria

Franca Beccaria,PhD., is a sociologist, partner in Eclectica, a research institute in Torino (Italy), vice-director at the EMDAS, European Master on Drug and Alcohol Studies, University of Torino (Italy) and docent in sociology at University of Helsinki.