Abstract
The Chinese have always been identified as gamblers, and they accept this. However, apart from state lotteries, the people of China have not been exposed to a situation where games have been legitimized and made generally available. According to recent literature, there are significant problems related to gambling in many jurisdictions around the world where a critical mass of people of Chinese origin have access to state gambling. Overseas Chinese are table game enthusiasts and are also turning to electronic gambling machines (EGMs), which are recognized as the games most likely to be associated with harmful gambling and pathological gambling. In Mainland China, EGM are now being widely introduced. This discussion paper is built on a synthesis of anthropological knowledge about Chinese culture and a non systematic review of current literature about Chinese culture and gambling. We have tried to answer the following question: if such machines are now introduced in large numbers in China, what are the implications for public health if the games are as popular as projections would have them? Given our knowledge of the correlation between Chinese culture and games of chance and money – and in light of the sensational popularity of casinos in Macao – the introduction of electronic gambling machines in China should become popular and could have important consequences on the population’s health. When the negative effects are felt, the Chinese regime may be unlikely to listen to civil society which, as in other jurisdictions where EGMs are operated, will try too late and within the limits of the freedom granted in China, to mitigate the impacts of those games.
Highlights
The meaning of games of chance and money Gambling involves games in which money, or any other object or action that has value, is bet on the result
The data show that 68.5% of annual spending by Quebecers on video lottery terminals is made by 14% of those people who have a gambling problem with VLTs (Chevalier et al, 2004). Several studies confirm this state of affairs and report that pathological gamblers contribute on average 46% of video lottery terminal income – the proportions varying between 27% and 67% (Australian Productivity Commission 1999); Azmier & Smith, 1998; Nova Scotia Department of Health, 1998; Volberg, Gerstein, Christiansen, & Baldridge, 2001; Doiron, Rowling, 1999; Smith, & Wynne, 2002)
The problems expected with the introduction of electronic gambling machines (EGMs) may be exacerbated by the common acceptance of gambling in general, by the lack of knowledge of pathological gambling as a psychosocial and public health problem, and by the concern for saving face
Summary
The meaning of games of chance and money Gambling involves games in which money, or any other object or action that has value, is bet on the result. Several studies confirm this state of affairs and report that pathological gamblers contribute on average 46% of video lottery terminal income – the proportions varying between 27% and 67% (Australian Productivity Commission 1999); Azmier & Smith, 1998; Nova Scotia Department of Health, 1998; Volberg, Gerstein, Christiansen, & Baldridge, 2001; Doiron, Rowling, 1999; Smith, & Wynne, 2002) The literature attributes this situation to two main factors: the technical characteristics intrinsic to the machines and their temporal, geographic, symbolic, economic, and legal accessibility (Leblond, 2004; Dowling, Smith & Thomas, 2005; Wood et al, 2004; Griffiths, 1993; Chevalier & Papineau, 2004; Abbott, 2006). This propensity is perhaps linked to some degree to the traditional Chinese “fatalistic” thinking (Papineau, 2005), but could have a significant influence to the Chinese players’ relation with the EGM
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