Gambling Harms Research in Australia – Contemporary Perspectives

Join us for this seminar and networking event with Associate Professor Steven Threadgold and Associate Professor Alex M T Russell discussing contemporary perspectives on Gambling Harms Research in Australia.

This event is free to attend 

To attend this seminar and networking event in-person, please register on Ticket Tailor. 

11:00am - 12:30 pm: Seminar
12:30pm - 1:30pm: Lunch, refreshments and networking

Speaker Bios:

Associate Professor Steven Threadgold

Steven Threadgold is Associate Professor of Sociology the Director of the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre at University of Newcastle, Australia. His research focuses on youth and class, with particular interests in unequal and alternative work and career trajectories; underground and independent creative scenes; cultural formations of taste, and financial practices and fintech. Steve an Associate Editor of Journal of Youth Studies, and on the Editorial Boards of The Sociological Review, DIY, Alternative Culture & Society, and Journal of Applied Youth Studies. His latest book is Bourdieu and Affect: Towards a Theory of Affective Affinities (Bristol University Press). Youth, Class and Everyday Struggles (Routledge) won the 2020 Raewyn Connell Prize for best first book in Australian sociology. His latest edited collection with Jessica Gerrard is Class in Australia. Contact at steven.threadgold@newcastle.edu.au

Associate Professor Alex M T Russell

Alex Russell is a Principal Research Fellow in the Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory at CQUniversity Australia. His primary research interests are in how technology is changing gambling, who is most at risk, and how these harms can be minimised. He is a statistical and research methods specialist, and enjoys developing novel techniques for studying gambling-related issues. He is a named author on more than 160 peer-reviewed publications and 50 external grants (~AU$28million). In 2019 he was named as an ABC Top 5 Scientist, and in 2020 he was named as a NSW Tall Poppy and STEM Ambassador for Science and Technology Australia. Outside of work, he’s busy raising two young boys with his wife Steph. He spends his spare time enjoying photography, sport and wine.  Contact Alex at a.m.russell@cqu.edu.au

Abstract: 

The Financialization of Sporting Mateships and the rise of Gambling Subjectivity  

In this talk, Steven Threadgold discusses the role that recently developed ‘bet with mates’ features on gambling apps play in the social lives of young men, considering it as an aspect of the broader financialization of young people’s lives. We explore the social role gambling plays in young men’s social lives, especially in relation to sport, masculinity, friendship and the broader affective environments and socialities at play in their gambling practices. More broadly, the literature on young people’s subjectivities has created a well-established and still very relevant understanding of how young people need to make choices in late capitalism, that is, as entrepreneurial subjects that need to make the right choices now as they speculate into their future. As young people find out many of the promises made to them in their journey from child to adult are just not true - that meritocracy exists, that gender and racial inequalities are getting better, that adults will do something about climate change, etc. – there is evidence in some of our research projects that they are feeling let down, ripped off, and sold out. This sees a different orientation towards the future, a more ironic and cynical dispositions, a feeling of ‘whatever’ that leads to choices feeling more as gambling than investing. Both gambling and investing are forms of speculation, but it may be that he privileged can invest, while the rest must gamble.

Gambling harm in Australia: With harmful products everywhere, is it any surprise so many of us experience harm?

In this talk, Alex Russell will cover some of their work exploring the relationships between gambling harm and 1) availability of harmful gambling products, 2) the emergence harmful sports betting forms, and 3) the increasingly social nature of gambling. He will also cover our recent prevalence work about the degree of harm in our communities.

In one study, we used prevalence data to compare gambling problems and harm in the one state that does not have EGMs everywhere (WA) to the rest of the country. Gambling harm was one-third lower in WA, attributable entirely to lower EGM uptake. These findings have important implications about the nature of gambling harm, and the degree to which people move to other harmful gambling products when one is not available (spoiler; they don’t). In a second study, we explored new sports betting products. The emergence of products like microbetting allow for bettors to place bets almost continuously, akin to an EGM. He will discuss findings about who these products appeal to, and whether there are legitimate concerns about their introduction. In our third study, we explored how gambling has become an important part of socialising. Our findings show that people in higher-risk groups tend to live in a social environment where gambling, and gambling problems, are normalised. This has implications for minimising harm, especially amongst young men. Finally Alex will discuss some findings from recent prevalence work, including what is to-date the most comprehensive measure of gambling harm in our communities.

We encourage in-person attendance for this seminar and networking event. A hybrid link can be provided for those of you who are unable to travel.  Please use the contact information below to request a hybrid link by 30th May.   

 

Associate Professor Steven Threadgold

Associate Professor Alex M T Russell