Towards a conceptual framework for the prevention of gambling-related harms: Findings from a scoping review

The global gambling sector has grown significantly over recent years due to liberal deregulation and digital transformation. Likewise, concerns around gambling-related harms—experienced by individuals, their families, their local communities or societies—have also developed, with growing calls that they should be addressed by a public health approach. A public health approach towards gambling-related harms requires a multifaceted strategy, comprising initiatives promoting health protection, harm minimization and health surveillance across different strata of society. However, there is little research exploring how a public health approach to gambling-related harms can learn from similar approaches to other potentially harmful but legal sectors such as the alcohol sector, the tobacco sector, and the high in fat, salt and sugar product sector. Therefore, this paper presents a conceptual framework that was developed following a scoping review of public health approaches towards the above sectors. Specifically, we synthesize strategies from each sector to develop an overarching set of public health goals and strategies which—when interlinked and incorporated with a socio-ecological model—can be deployed by a range of stakeholders, including academics and treatment providers, to minimise gambling-related harms. We demonstrate the significance of the conceptual framework by highlighting its use in mapping initiatives as well as unifying stakeholders towards the minimization of gambling-related harms, and the protection of communities and societies alike

Towards a critical realist approach to the dark side of digital transformation

The Dark Side of Information Systems (IS) is a school of thought which explores the detrimental consequences that can arise from IS phenomena such as digital transformation (DT). Critical Realism (CR), meanwhile, is a philosophical approach which can lend a deeper understanding of dark phenomena thanks to its emphasis upon the role of deep-lying, generative mechanisms. However, as our paper demonstrates, the extant research base applying a CR approach in the exploration of dark phenomena in general is small with respect to examining the potential dark consequences of DT. Our paper therefore introduces the CR philosophical approach to the research of dark phenomena, through a case study of the digital transformation of Britain's land-based betting industry. This example highlights how a CR approach unearthed a generative mechanism formed by the productivity of digital platform-based forms of gambling. Whilst platforms provide novel gambling markets and ease-of-access which may be seen positively by the consumer, our example shows that the generative mechanism formed by the productivity of platform gambling gives rise to the continuous exploitation of staff and customers alike in addition to the continuous accumulation of capital by operator. We demonstrate that, as opposed to specific, pre-identified dark phenomena such as addiction or technostress, dark phenomena caused by generative mechanisms may be unknown, perceived positively or differently over time. A CR approach can facilitate a deeper understanding of how these generative mechanisms and subsequent dark phenomena emerge and evolve, and promote wiser approaches to DT