Understanding the Impact of Seniors’ Casino Gambling on Family Relationships

• In Event: 477 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Communities, Institutions, and Violence

Abstract

Today’s gaming industry plays a vital role in local and national economies and increasingly so in our daily lives. Older adults comprise a major portion of gambling clientele and are targeted by the gaming industry since they have free time, available funds, and credit. Recently, there have been reports of a wide variety of negative outcomes associated with gambling among older adults, including economic hardship and family dysfunction. Scientific interest in gambling is multidisciplinary, with numerous fields and disciplines weighing in on the subject. Missing from this literature is an understanding of how casino gambling impacts the lives older Americans at different levels of gambling involvement, i.e., recreational to problematic. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the range of family complications across various types of elderly gamblers. A qualitative, grounded theory approach featuring in-depth interviews with 35 seniors (aged 55-78) yielded a typology of recreational, at-risk, and problematic elderly gamblers. The three groups reported unique family complications related to gambling. Connections between the elderly gambler typology and relevant family complications are informed by existing theories of aging (activity theory and the engaged lifestyle concept), along with risk factors from prior gambling research.

Author

• Tammy L. Anderson, University of Delaware