Oh, those horsemen! Regulatory change and cultural peculiarity in Finland

Abstract Finland\u27s three gambling monopoly operators merged into one state-owned entity in 2017. A particular challenge to the process came from its smallest constituent, the tote company Fintoto, its owner, the national Trotting and Horse Breeding Association, and the equine industry’s cultural peculiarity. The process is examined from the perspective of the equine industry, which had to choose between joining or not joining the merger. The exchanges between \u27horse people\u27 and state regulators, the equine industry’s resistance and decision to participate in the merger, and concerns about impact are traced from Finland\u27s leading equine newspaper, in 2015–2017. The articles are triangulated with documents produced by state and equine organizations, material from other media sources, and ethnography. The qualitative assessment shows how cultural peculiarity challenges national regulatory processes and causes internal divisions among affected groups. The discussion shows why communication is a critical success factor in regulatory transitions and impact management, and how general trends in society may intervene. The findings stress the importance of understanding culture, history, and geographical scale in the study and management of regulatory change. The investigation demonstrates the value of systematic documentation and long-term qualitative view in assessing impact. So What? The presentation shows why “one size does not fit all” and why this matters in regulatory and industry change. Ignorance of cultural peculiarity can complicate regulatory processes and generate unnecessary economic, political, and socio-cultural costs

Gambling and Geography: The Naming of Gaming in Nevada

This research project takes an interdisciplinary look at the naming of Nevada\u27s gambling establishments in the latter half of the twentieth century. In this talk, Raento supports her qualitative data analysis with local, contemporary voices and visualization

All In - and More! Gambling in the James Bond Films

Scholarly analysis of gambling in the James Bond films is rare, despite the multitude of topics in Bondology and the fictional agent’s global fame. The odd commentary in gambling scholarship criticizes the franchise from the perspective of harm prevention. This article counters both groups of scholars with a qualitative interpretation of Bond’s gambling habits and the role of gambling and risk taking in the film series. A basic toolkit of visual methodologies is applied to the 24 EON-produced Bond films released in 1962–2015. The examination shows the critical importance of gambling to character identity, power hierarchies and communication, atmosphere, and sense of risk and danger. The study shows that not only gamblers and gambling, but also individual games and settings have narrative agency in the films. The results expand understanding about gambling in cinema and ways of studying it, and the existing readings in Bondology of the 2006 prequel Casino Royale. The findings encourage open-minded inquiries into diverse audiences and their responses. The findings call for, and exemplify the value of, deeper interdisciplinary understanding of popular culture in gambling research

Diffusion and Learning: Twenty Years of Sports Betting Culture in Finland

How did people learn to bet on sports and how did a sports betting culture develop in Finland? How has this setting evolved over space and time? The answers contribute to the growing understanding of learning, socialization, and contextualization in the study of gambling and may inspire service providers, regulators, and harm preventers alike. We argue that broad structural patterns and micro-cultural processes should be investigated jointly and qualitative information should complement quantitative monitoring of human behavior. We approach the spread of sports betting to, and within Finland, from the perspective of innovation diffusion. We rely on this theory’s space- and culture-sensitive application in sports geography and public health research and, by doing so, expand knowledge about innovation diffusion in gambling studies. We triangulate diverse data, including Finnish-language betting manuals and online instruction sites, newspaper and magazine articles, and statistical and survey materials. We find that the early development of Finnish sports betting matches the spatio-cultural innovation diffusion theory but new challenges have emerged in the online era. Our method and findings contribute to the study of sports betting, space- and time-sensitive gambling research, and qualitative understanding of developments in particular jurisdictions, markets, and campaigns

Hirmuhallitsijan urapolku

Frank Dikötter: How to be a dictator. The cult of personality in the twentieth century. Bloomsbury 2019

Tutkijoiden medianäkyvyys

Tiede ja tutkijat kiinnostavat mediassa mutta valikoima vaikuttaa suppealta. Toimittajien ja tutkijoiden vuorovaikutusta kannattaisikin helpottaa entisestään, varsinkin kun osapuolet tarvitsevat toisiaan