Lottery marketing in Québec and social deprivation: excessive exposure, insufficient protection?

Winning Exposure and Positive Illusions Among Chinese Lottery Gamblers: Moderating Effects of Lottery Winning Experience and Socioeconomic Status

Positive illusions and winning exposure are key factors leading to problem lottery gambling, but few studies have examined the relationships between them. 402 Chinese lottery gamblers was conducted with the Winning Exposure Questionnaire, the Positive illusion Questionnaire, the Winning Experience Questionnaire, and the Social and Economic Status Questionnaire to investigate the relationship between winning exposure and positive illusions as well as the moderating role of winning experience and socioeconomic status. The results showed that winning exposure can significantly and positively predict the positive illusions (optimism bias, better than average bias, and illusion of control) of lottery gamblers. The highest winning amount and subjective socioeconomic status significantly moderated the relationship between winning exposure and optimism bias. That was to say, for lottery gamblers with smaller maximum winning amount and lower subjective socioeconomic status, the association between winning exposure and optimism bias was stronger. Furthermore, the moderating effect of highest winning amount in the relationship between winning exposure and better than average bias, and the moderating effects of occupational status and subjective socioeconomic status in the relationship between winning exposure and illusion of control were marginally significant.

Relationships between socio-economic status and lottery gambling across lottery types: neighborhood-level evidence from a large city

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Lottery gambling participation tends to be higher among lower socio-economic status (SES) individuals, but it is unclear how this relationship differs as a function of lottery type. We estimated how the relationship between SES and lottery gambling rates varies across different types of lottery gambling: fixed-prize, progressive-prize (jackpot) and instant-win (scratch card) lottery tickets in a large Canadian city.

DESIGN

Neighborhood-level lottery purchase data obtained from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission were analysed in conjunction with demographic data. Mixed-effects regression was used to assess simultaneously how neighborhood-level SES predicts per-person lottery gambling rates across fixed-prize, progressive-prize lottery and instant-win lotteries.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Neighborhoods in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the years 2012-15.

MEASUREMENTS

Per-capita sales in dollars (CAD) of fixed-prize lottery, progressive-prize lottery and instant-win tickets in Toronto postal codes. SES was estimated as a composite of income, years of education and white-collar employment.

FINDINGS

Lower-SES neighborhoods engaged in higher rates of lottery gambling overall [β = -0.084, standard error (SE) = 0.24, P = 0.0007]. The predictive effect of SES varied significantly by lottery type (fixed-prize: β = -0.105, SE = 0.004, P < 0.0001, instant-win: β = -0.054, SE = 0.004, P < 0.0001; relative to progressive-prize). The predictive effect of SES was strongest for fixed-prize lotteries and weakest for progressive-prize lotteries, such that we did not observe a significant predictive effect of SES for progressive-prize lotteries (β = -0.031, SE = 0.024, P = 0.198).

CONCLUSIONS

People in lower socio-economic status neighborhoods in Toronto, Canada appear to engage in more lottery gambling than those in higher socio-economic status neighborhoods, with the difference being largest for fixed prize lotteries followed by instant win lotteries, and no clear difference for progressive prize lotteries.

Spatial distribution of gambling exposure and vulnerability: an ecological tool to support health inequality reduction

OBJECTIVES

Recent research by Public Health has redefined harmful gambling, shifting the focus from problematic people with irresponsible behaviour to 'gamblogenic' environments. The aim of this research was to support this alternative perspective with concrete ecological tools for characterizing harmful environments. Studies that analyse the spatial distribution of gambling show that people living in the most disadvantaged areas have greater access to gambling and are more affected by the harms of gambling. Despite their quality methodology and usefulness, the scope of geographic access measures has been partially limited. These measures have been mostly structured around a single form of gambling, focus on only one dimension of accessibility (density or proximity) and few of them take into account the risks associated with each type of the game. The main goal of our research was to propose an innovative method to characterize gambling environments in Quebec and address social inequality with respect to gambling exposure. This article more specifically describes the method we used to address the aforementioned shortcomings by developing the gambling exposure index (GEI), a more comprehensive ecological index of all games-weighted by their relative level of risk-to which populations are exposed.

STUDY DESIGN

The study design is a cross-sectional ecological study.

METHODS

The methodological approach was carried out in three stages. A GEI was operationalized and is composed of three dimensions: A dimension of spatial accessibility to gambling sites, a dimension of density of gambling places and a dimension of relative risk associated with different types of game. The two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method was used to combine these three dimensions into an overall GEI index. Data were retrieved from a geocoded directory of all gambling sites from Loto-Québec and other commercial databases. The relative risk of each type of game has been expressed by prevalence rates for those specific games in a Quebec population prevalence survey. A vulnerability to gambling index (VGI) was produced based on 6 socio-economic proxies of problem gambling from the 2016 Canadian census. The six variables were weighted and aggregated at the dissemination area (DA) level. Spatial and descriptive statistical analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between VGI and GEI and to identify areas that are highly vulnerable and have a high gambling exposure.

RESULTS

The findings of our analysis reveal widespread geographic exposure to gambling and a significant positive linear relationship between the GEI and the VGI. In many areas, increased accessibility to gambling is significantly associated with a higher vulnerability to gambling. Our findings demonstrate that in 1328 DAs in Quebec, there is a particularly unequal and potentially harmful geographical distribution of gambling, exposing 9% of the population which are theoretically vulnerable to gambling to an increased presence of gambling.

CONCLUSION

This research applied a spatial analytical approach to assess the association between environments, gambling and vulnerability. The GEI and VGI at the DA level can serve as a monitoring tool for policy-makers regarding gambling exposure in the most vulnerable sectors and contribute to prevention and intervention strategies better adapted to the population. The general findings raise the ethical implications of increased marketing development in vulnerable neighbourhoods. As the GEI takes into account both the environmental determinants and the relative risk of games, it is in contributing to the shift in public and scientific discourse, redefining the subject from problematic people to problematic games and environments.