‘Risky Places?’: Mapping Gambling Machine Density and Socio-Economic Deprivation

The aims of this project were to map the location and density of gambling machines in Britain; to explore whether geographic areas with higher densities of machines exist and to examine the socio-economic characteristics of these areas relative to others. Using geospatial analysis of premises record...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of gambling studies 2014-03, Vol.30 (1), p.201-212
Main Authors: Wardle, Heather, Keily, Ruth, Astbury, Gaynor, Reith, Gerda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictive behaviors
Casinos
Community and Environmental Psychology
Economics
Gambling
Gaming machines
Geographic Information Systems
Geography
Humans
Legalized gambling
Location analysis
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Online gambling
Original Paper
Poverty Areas
Psychiatry
Public health
Risk Assessment
Social psychology
Social research
Socioeconomic factors
Sociology
Studies
United Kingdom
Venue
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Summary:The aims of this project were to map the location and density of gambling machines in Britain; to explore whether geographic areas with higher densities of machines exist and to examine the socio-economic characteristics of these areas relative to others. Using geospatial analysis of premises records, we identified 8861 Machine Zones which were areas with a 400 meter radius around gambling machine venue and 384 High Density Machine Zones (HDMZ) with 1 or more gambling machine per hectare. There was a significant correlation between machine density and socio-economic deprivation. HDMZs had greater levels of income deprivation, more economically inactive people and a younger age profile than other areas; 37 % of those living in HDMZs were economically inactive compared with 33 % of those in non-machine areas. HDMZs were in seaside locations but also New Towns or satellite towns to major urban areas. Area affluence explains some of this pattern; of the New Towns with HDMZs, 78 % were in New Towns with a high proportion of low income areas. We therefore concluded that the distribution of gambling machines in Great Britain, in line with other international jurisdictions, displays a significant association with areas of socio-economic deprivation. The profile of the resident population living in HDMZs mirrors the profile of those most at-risk of experiencing harm from gambling. This spatial pattern has important implications for assessing the relationship between gambling availability and gambling-related harm, and for the future development of policy, harm-prevention and treatment strategies.
ISSN:1573-3602
1573-3602
DOI:10.1007/s10899-012-9349-2