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From Habit-Forming to Habit-Breaking Availability: Experiences on Electronic Gambling Machine Closures During COVID-19

Electronic gambling machines (EGMs) are among the most harmful forms of gambling. The structural characteristics of EGMs prolong and reinforce gambling similarly to other habit-forming technologies. In Finland, the wide availability of EGMs in non-casino locations is likely to further reinforce the...

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Autores principales: Marionneau, Virve, Järvinen-Tassopoulos, Johanna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8811210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35126239
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.788586
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author Marionneau, Virve
Järvinen-Tassopoulos, Johanna
author_facet Marionneau, Virve
Järvinen-Tassopoulos, Johanna
author_sort Marionneau, Virve
collection PubMed
description Electronic gambling machines (EGMs) are among the most harmful forms of gambling. The structural characteristics of EGMs prolong and reinforce gambling similarly to other habit-forming technologies. In Finland, the wide availability of EGMs in non-casino locations is likely to further reinforce the habit-creating nature of gambling offer by incorporating EGMs into everyday practices. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of gambling in Finland. The most visible change was the closure of land-based EGMs in non-casino environments, arcades, and the casino in March 2020. Since then, the status of EGMs has varied depending on the pandemic situation. The current qualitative study focuses on how Finnish past-year gamblers experience prolonged EGM closures and occasional re-openings 1 year into the pandemic. The data consist of responses to an online questionnaire eliciting experiences (N = 187) as well as interviews (N = 27, conducted in groups or alone). To aid our analysis, we employ the sociological pragmatist theory of the concept of “habit.” The analysis focuses on gambler experiences on EGM shutdowns and re-openings, and views on whether closures have contributed to abstaining from gambling or to shifting to other gambling products. Policy implications of the results are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-88112102022-02-04 From Habit-Forming to Habit-Breaking Availability: Experiences on Electronic Gambling Machine Closures During COVID-19 Marionneau, Virve Järvinen-Tassopoulos, Johanna Front Psychol Psychology Electronic gambling machines (EGMs) are among the most harmful forms of gambling. The structural characteristics of EGMs prolong and reinforce gambling similarly to other habit-forming technologies. In Finland, the wide availability of EGMs in non-casino locations is likely to further reinforce the habit-creating nature of gambling offer by incorporating EGMs into everyday practices. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of gambling in Finland. The most visible change was the closure of land-based EGMs in non-casino environments, arcades, and the casino in March 2020. Since then, the status of EGMs has varied depending on the pandemic situation. The current qualitative study focuses on how Finnish past-year gamblers experience prolonged EGM closures and occasional re-openings 1 year into the pandemic. The data consist of responses to an online questionnaire eliciting experiences (N = 187) as well as interviews (N = 27, conducted in groups or alone). To aid our analysis, we employ the sociological pragmatist theory of the concept of “habit.” The analysis focuses on gambler experiences on EGM shutdowns and re-openings, and views on whether closures have contributed to abstaining from gambling or to shifting to other gambling products. Policy implications of the results are discussed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-01-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8811210/ /pubmed/35126239 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.788586 Text en Copyright © 2022 Marionneau and Järvinen-Tassopoulos. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Marionneau, Virve
Järvinen-Tassopoulos, Johanna
From Habit-Forming to Habit-Breaking Availability: Experiences on Electronic Gambling Machine Closures During COVID-19
title From Habit-Forming to Habit-Breaking Availability: Experiences on Electronic Gambling Machine Closures During COVID-19
title_full From Habit-Forming to Habit-Breaking Availability: Experiences on Electronic Gambling Machine Closures During COVID-19
title_fullStr From Habit-Forming to Habit-Breaking Availability: Experiences on Electronic Gambling Machine Closures During COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed From Habit-Forming to Habit-Breaking Availability: Experiences on Electronic Gambling Machine Closures During COVID-19
title_short From Habit-Forming to Habit-Breaking Availability: Experiences on Electronic Gambling Machine Closures During COVID-19
title_sort from habit-forming to habit-breaking availability: experiences on electronic gambling machine closures during covid-19
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8811210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35126239
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.788586
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