Better Luck Next Time: State-sponsored gambling and the commodification of hope

Abstract

State-sponsored gambling programmes have avoided substantive criticism in recent years, due primarily to the charitable causes benefited by their operation. The intention of this paper is to investigate the nature of this charitable gambling structure, considering both the mechanism and social implications of its practice. Through the creation of appeals which capitalise upon social inequalities, consumers are enticed to gamble both as a means of escape from their precarious circumstances, and to orient themselves in relation to the cultural emphasis upon material wealth. Through the analysis of official communications, and of the structural features of gambling programmes, it is evident that official practices are broadly deceptive in nature. These misleading practices misrepresent consumer odds, primarily by encouraging superstitious beliefs which undermine the probabilistic realities of gambling. Through a multi-faceted strategy of legitimation, officials both pathologise the victims of gambling harm, and reframe individual losses as positive outcomes. By emphasising the notion of personal responsibility, officials position gambling-related harms at the individual level. Paradoxically, the nobility of these involuntary charitable contributions is emphatically asserted, which facilitates the reconfiguration of consumer loss into a demonstration of generosity. Substantiated by these findings, this paper contends that the state-sponsored gambling model creates unjustifiable social harm, and constitutes an immoral commodification of hope.