Alcohol, Drugs and Addiction

Le succès contemporain des jeux d'argent peut être expliqué par leur banalisation et par la popularité de certains jeux comme le poker. En dépit de cela, les conséquences négatives du jeu excessif sont connues. Dans plusieurs pays européens, le jeu pathologique est considéré comme un problème de santé publique. La responsabilité est devenue le nouvel emblème dans la lutte contre la dépendance au jeu. Les jeux d'argent sont une source de profits financiers considérables pour les États européens. L'enjeu social est de réguler le marché ludique en ligne et de trouver l'équilibre nécessaire entre les bénéfices et les coûts sociaux.

Mots-clés: jeux d'argent, régulation des jeux d'argent, dépendance au jeu, jeu responsable, marché ludique en ligne

Les théories classiques définissent le jeu comme une activité complexe ayant une réalité spécifique et bénéficiant d'un temps et d'un espace externes au monde quotidien. Dans la vie sociale, la place du jeu est désignée par la culture, la religion et les valeurs d'une certaine époque. Le risque fait allusion au hasard qui distribue les gains et inflige les pertes d'une manière inégale. Pendant longtemps le jeu a été opposé au travail, car le joueur ne suivait pas les étapes du parcours laborieux du travailleur. L'histoire des jeux de hasard montre que les sociétés différentes et les communautés religieuses ont régulé ou interdit leur pratique. En Occident, l'attitude éthique, qui s'est manifestée sous forme de morale vis-à-vis des joueurs passionnés, a été remplacée par une vision pathologique du joueur compulsif au courant du XXème siècle. L'offre actuelle des jeux d'argent et la médiatisation des pratiques ludiques ont transformé la perception du jeu. La liberté de jouer est toujours contrôlée par les États, mais l'opération des jeux d'argent en ligne dépasse les lois et les frontières. Pour répondre au désir de jouer des individus modernes, mais aussi pour éviter les coûts sociaux, la responsabilité sociale est devenue l'emblème de l'offre et de la régulation des jeux d'argent de nos jours.

Mots-clés: jeux de hasard et d'argent, risque, liberté, régulation, éthique, responsabilité

Boys are players, girls are dilettantes - Reviewing the results of the ESPAD school survey 2007

This article examines Finnish youth gambling based on the results of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) 2007. The Finnish survey sample comprised 9th graders, born in 1991, who were asked about their alcohol and drug use and their smoking habits. In addition, they were asked about their playing on slot machines and participation in online poker for free or for money or in other forms on Internet gambling. In 2007, a total of 299 Finnish school classes took part in the survey. The response rate was 91%. The final number of respondents was 4,988, of which 2,297 were boys and 2,691 girls. Our focus is to study how gender interacts with gambling, how the availability of games is reflected in young people's gambling habits and how alcohol and drug use correlate with gambling among young people. The results are compared with international research findings on youth gambling.

A review of earlier research results shows that Finnish boys play on slot machines notably more than Finnish girls. The ESPAD 2007 survey shed a light on young Finns' participation in online games. Boys reported more often than girls that is was very or rather easy to play online poker for free or for money or participate in other forms of Internet gambling. Slightly more than a half of the boys had sometimes played free online poker, whereas a relatively small proportion had sometimes or more regularly played online poker for money.

Boys who participated in online poker also played on slot machines more often than other boys. Those boys who had played online poker for money also played free online poker more often than other boys. Girls gambled less and more infrequently than boys. Approximately a fourth of the girls played on slot machines at least once a month, but only a few girls had sometimes played online poker for money or claimed to play it once a month.

When gambling becomes a regular habit and when alcohol and drug use are involved, serious concerns must be raised about the future of the young individual. Most of the boys who played regularly on slot machines used alcohol and got drunk more often than other boys. Boys who played online poker for money had tried cannabis more often than other boys. Among girls, a noteworthy association was discovered between weekly slot machine playing and becoming intoxicated with alcohol, trying cannabis and using tranquilizers or sleeping pills without doctor's prescription.

Finnish boys are players: the ESPAD 2007 results show that they are very interested in different forms of gambling. Even though girls are engage in gambling to a much lesser extent than boys, it is important that they are not excluded from future studies. Among some girls there is a clear connection between slot machine playing, drinking and drug use.

Keywords: ESPAD 2007, Finnish youth, gambling, gender differences, alcohol and drug use

Vuoden 2008 Juomatapatutkimus sisälsi ensimmäistä kertaa kysymyksiä myös rahapelaamisesta ja peliongelmista. Tämä tarjoaa mahdollisuuden tarkastella rahapelaamisen yhteyksiä alkoholin ja huumeiden käyttöön. Yleiskuvan lisäksi on kiinnostavaa tietää, missä määrin juominen, huumeidenkäyttö ja ongelmapelaaminen kasaantuvat yksille ja samoille henkilöille. Onko tällainen ongelmien "noidankehä" olemassa ja jos on, niin kuinka suurta joukkoa suomalaisia se koskettaa?

Casino gambling is a worldwide phenomenon. There are different types of casinos in every continent. In the 1990s, Denmark was the first Nordic country to pass legislation to license land-based casinos (a total of 10 licenses), and soon after the Slot Machine Association (RAY) was allowed to open a casino in the capital of Finland. Back then, there were about 350 casinos in 11 member states within the European community. Tourism was a strong argument in the Finnish public debate concerning casino operation. Another important issue was illegal gambling in dens: casino gambling needed to be legalized and monopolized.

The Finnish Slot Machine Association (RAY) will open a second land-based casino in the south-eastern region close to the Finnish-Russian border. The new casino will be located in a shopping center in proximity of a hotel and a spa. Gambling operation on the border raises at least two questions: 1) Can gambling become a sustainable economic development strategy for communities? 2) Can gambling be seen as a tourism and leisure activity? Furthermore, there is no direct competition on the Russian side of the border: in 2007, a law prohibited gambling activities in Russian cities, towns and villages. All gambling activities were to be moved to specific gambling zones (like Kaliningrad and Siberia) by July 2009. The Finnish border region is yet to be developed in order to increase (casino) tourism in Finland.

In my presentation, I will examine the possible benefits, costs and downsides of a border casino. The debate on the casino project started in the Finnish press soon after RAY announced the opening of the second casino in the Eastern Finland. In 2012, the major topics concerned the location of the casino (the Finnish-Russian border), the benefits to the Vaalimaa region (employment, economic development) and the Russian business partners (lack of information on their assets and liabilities). Finally, I will discuss the social impact of casino operation on a community in which the residents already spend a lot in gambling.

Tutkimuseettiset kysymykset ja kannanotot ovat olennainen osa yhteiskuntatieteellistä tutkimusta. Tutkimusaineistojen laadun ja hankinnan monipuolistuminen sekä analyysin ja julkaisun mahdolliset haasteet vaikuttavat siihen, kuinka tutkimusta suunnitellaan ja kuinka se toteutetaan. Uusi mielenkiintoinen tutkimuskohde ja tutkijoiden vakuuttelut hyvistä tutkimuskäytännöistä eivät välttämättä riitä sellaisinaan perustelemaan tutkimussuunnitelmaa.

AIM – This qualitative study expands on female problem gambling by examining short online narratives written by Finnish women. Problem gambling is analysed within the familial context in order to discover gendered roles and practices, and in relation to substance use and abuse in women's lives. DESIGN – Two sets of qualitative data were used in this study. The first set was collected from two online discussion forums, and the second set was extracted from an online counselling service data in 2008. Chosen messages formed short narratives of women's problem gambling trajectory (51 cases). The data were analysed in accordance with the content analysis method. RESULTS – Women had started gambling either in adolescence or in adulthood. Most of the women played on slot machines or gambled online. The lack of coping skills, stressful events in life and troubled relationships made the women more vulnerable to gambling harms and other addictions. In some couples, partners were either drinking or gambling. This made the women's lives even more complicated, because they could not count on their partners' help and support. The women tried to hide the consequences of their problem gambling for fear of losing their significant others. CONCLUSIONS – Female gambling and female problem gambling are complex concepts influenced by social, cultural and political factors. This study has shown in its limited framework that female problem gambling is related to the gambling environment, the social acceptance of gambling and the regulation of gambling operations within the place of jurisdiction.

What does the Finnish gambling system based on monopoly look like after the merger of the three gambling operators? How is the marketing of gambling services supervised? How much money do Finnish people spend on gambling? What is the volume of gambling activities directed from Finland to abroad? What are gambling proceeds used for? Where can you find help for problem gambling?

These are some of the questions to which State of play 2017: A review of Finnish gambling provides answers. The review examines the Finnish gambling system and policy, gambling in Finland, gambling harms experienced by gamblers and significant others, prevention and reduction of gambling harms as well as the treatment of gambling
problems. The authors of the review are researchers and specialists from the National Institute for Health and Welfare as well as public servants from the Ministry of the Interior, the Gambling Administration and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Rajaseuduille sijoittunut rahapelitoiminta on kansainvälisesti yleistä, mutta Suomessa rahapelien vienti rajojen yli on ollut vähäistä. Käsittelemme tässä artikkelissa Suomesta Venäjälle suuntautunutta rahapelitarjontaa 1990-luvulta tähän päivään aiemman kirjallisuuden ja olemassa olevan tilastoaineiston valossa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on kuvata, millaista rahapelitarjonta Suomesta Venäjälle ja venäläisille on ollut, ja millaiset poliittiset ja taloudelliset seikat ovat vaikuttaneet tähän suhteeseen. Tarkastelu jaksottuu kolmeen ajanjaksoon, jotka liittyvät etenkin venäläisen rahapelijärjestelmän muutoksiin sääntelytasolla, ja suomalaisten rahapelitoimijoiden mahdollisuuksiin. Näitä ovat venäläisten rahapelimarkkinoiden kasvuaika 1990-luvulla, vuoden 2006 rahapeliuudistuksen rajoittama markkinaympäristö ja uusien markkinoiden synty sekä vuoden 2014 jälkeinen aika, johon on liittynyt niin ruplan romahtaminen kuin koronapandemian tuomat haasteet matkailulle Finland and the Russian ga...