Community Attachment in Two Rural Gaming Communities: Comparisons between Colorado Gaming Communities, USA and Gangwon Gaming Communities, South Korea

Abstract

This study compared residents' community attachment in two rural gaming communities in Colorado, USA and Gangwon Province, South Korea by examining whether residents' socio-demographic variables were related to their community attachment and whether residents' community attachment affected their perceived impacts, benefits and support for casino gaming development. Both casino impact areas have shared similar underlying legalization characteristics; both communities were depressed mining areas whose economy had declined significantly. The findings revealed that residents' community attachments were significantly different between the two data collection sites. Consequently, the differences in community attachment influenced residents' perceptions of, benefits, and support for gaming development in both sites. The findings partly reinforced earlier findings regarding the relationships between community attachment and attitudes to tourism, supporting the notion that highly community-attached individuals view the benefits of tourism more positively and show a stronger support for tourism in their communities than less attached individuals.