Gambling Among Young Thai People in Melbourne

International Gambling Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2, November 2004

Gambling Among Young Thai People in Melbourne, Australia: An Exploratory Study NATTAPORN TANASORNNARONGa, ALUN C. JACKSONa & SHANE A. THOMASa a

University of Melbourne/La Trobe University Gambling Research Program, Australia

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to explore the gambling behaviours of young Thai people resident in Melbourne, Australia; the meaning that gambling had for this group; whether the attitudes of these young Thai people towards gambling changed as a result of their location in a society with more relaxed attitudes towards gambling than in Thailand; whether any such changes of attitude were reflected in gambling participation; and whether such participation had demonstrably negative impacts. It was also hoped to gain some insight into whether pre-existing beliefs and attitudes provided a protective factor in relation to the respondent’s gambling. Fifty young people aged 18 to 25, forming five natural friendship networks, were observed on over 180 occasions in relation to their gambling and leisure behaviours. A number of major themes were identified from the observational data including money, fortune and luck, consumerism, entertainment, spirituality and superstition, gambling and family values. It was found that despite high levels of gambling participation there was little, if any, evidence of problematic play or its consequences. Strong adherence to values espoused in families of origin and to complex beliefs about luck in the context of beliefs about spirituality and the location of gambling within the context of a range of leisure pursuits served as protective factors for these young people.

Introduction The purpose of this study was to explore the gambling behaviours of young Thai people resident in Melbourne. In doing so, the study sought to identify the meaning that gambling had for this group, particularly as they were from a society characterised by both restricted gambling opportunities and family attitudes to gambling that are not generally supportive of gambling behaviour. A further aim of the study was to determine whether the attitudes of these young Thai people towards gambling changed as a result of their being in a society with much more relaxed attitudes towards gambling; whether any such changes of attitude were reflected in gambling participation; and whether such participation had demonstrably negative impacts. In examining gambling participation and its effects, it was also hoped to gain some insights into the role that pre-existing beliefs ISSN 1445-9795 print/1479-4276 online/04/020000-00  2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/14459790412331302381

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and attitudes played and whether they provided a protective factor in relation to the respondent’s gambling, and the role that gambling played in leisure more generally. To contextualise the observational study, the paper starts with a brief review of previous research on gambling in minority ethnic communities, a brief note on gambling in Thailand, the influence of beliefs about luck on gambling activity in Asian communities, and the role of gambling as a leisure activity. Gambling in Ethnic Communities Relatively few ethnographic or qualitative studies on ethnicity and gambling have been reported in the literature. However there have been some quantitative studies performed by Abbott and Volberg (Abbott and Volberg, 1994; Volberg and Abbott, 1997). Abbott and Volberg’s (1994) paper summarised the major findings of a large-scale study of problem gamblers in New Zealand compared with a US study and a Canadian study. High-risk groups were found to be young adults, those Maori and Chinese cultures, unemployed people, males and people who have parents with gambling problems. Goodal (1987) had earlier described card playing as a particular form of gambling activity among the Tiwi people of Northern Australia, and suggested that the meaning of this activity could be understood in terms of redistribution of income within the community. This redistributive function of gambling, particularly through card games in small communities, has also been identified in Vanuatu (Rubinstein, 1987) and other areas of Melanesia and Australia (Zimmer, 1987). This redistributive function, however, was not found by Sexton (1987) in a study in the Eastern Highlands in New Guinea. Sexton found that card playing was congruent with traditional competitive leisure activities, but that criticism in the community of card playing was a reaction to a number of anti-social outcomes of the card playing, such as excessive drinking; people deemed to be ‘wasting time’ and attempting to pursue personal gain without displaying skill or creativity. Hayano (1989) also analysed the meaning of card game gambling in a rural highland area of New Guinea and concluded that such gambling was basically a seasonal recreational activity often pursued by men returning from work in urban labour camps, rather than an activity well integrated into the village culture. This gendered nature of gambling activity, reflecting male/female work roles and property ownership has also been found in a study of gambling in villages in the coastal region of south-eastern Alaska (Heine, 1991). There are similarly few survey-based studies of gambling in ethnic communities. While local data collections, such as the Victorian Casino and Gaming Authority (VCGA) Community Patterns of Gambling surveys, provide some data concerning the participation rates in, and perceptions of, gambling for different cultural groups, these studies have involved very small numbers of respondents from these communities. Yamine and Thomas (2000) suggest that this is a consequence both of the multiplicity of groups within the Victorian community as well as a propensity of people from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds (NESB) to not participate in survey research. In addition, the smallness of some communities, such as the Thai

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community has resulted in data on them being aggregated and discussed as ‘Asian’ data. According to the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1999) Thai-born residents comprise an estimated community of 23,645 people in Australia. This group includes many young people, the majority of whom are relatively recent arrivals to Australia, including 3,668 students in 1999–2000. In the VCGA’s study (Yamine and Thomas, 2000) consultations with community representatives revealed that in some communities, namely the Vietnamese, Arabic and Chinese, there was concern expressed both about the social and economic impact of gambling and the low propensity to seek assistance. Games of luck and chance were preferred by all cultural groups over games of skill, with the Vietnamese respondents more likely than other respondents to fund their gambling from sources that would be normally considered non-disposable income. Most respondents (80%) had visited the Melbourne Casino and 65% had visited the gaming areas at the Casino. Having ‘all the entertainment I need under one roof’ was a major attraction, as was the Casino being ‘glamorous and thrilling’ and the staff being ‘friendly and courteous’. Those who had not visited the Casino were not interested in it. The consultations emphasised the importance of the immigration experience itself in contributing to a propensity to gamble (Yamine and Thomas, 2000), a point made strongly by Duong and Ohtsuka (2000) and Au and Yu (1997), who have argued that gambling may be understood in the context of migration adjustment problems such as unemployment, underemployment and threats to the self esteem of Asian men in particular. Caillois (1961) has argued that societies in transition are also prone to heavier gambling. It may be argued that this could apply to communities or groups in transition, or in marginal positions, such as Asian young people in transition from the confines of a conservative gambling culture to a more liberal gambling culture. Gambling in Thailand In Thailand the government lottery remains the only legal form of gambling. There are, however, other illegal forms of lottery prevalent, able to be played with very small amounts of money. The widespread knowledge of these illegal lotteries, however, is reflected in the extensive use of gambling as a subject in popular cartoons. It is important to note that in order for the jokes and stories contained in cartoons to ‘work’ there must be widespread knowledge of the core beliefs and practices represented. As Thibodeau (1989) has noted, humour is an especially sensitive indicator of social attitudes, and cartoons have been used in a number of studies to illustrate types of community knowledge and attitudes, in relation to older people (Smith, 1979), women (Anderson and Jolly, 1977) and Afro-Americans (Thibodeau, 1989). Cartoons have more recently been used by Kitiarsa (1999) to illustrate the shaping and representation of beliefs in Thailand in relation to spiritual-medium cults. Underground lotteries as well as the official lottery are recognised as the most popular form of gambling in Thailand among those less literate and those in

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lower-income groups. For the higher and middle income groups, football or soccer betting is a favoured form of gambling, becoming increasingly popular since the 1994 World Cup. According to the Thai Farmers Research Centre (1995), at that time there were about 61,000 regular soccer betters. Of these 34,000 live in the Bangkok and vicinity and 27,000 in other regions. Approximately 48,800 million baht (A$ 212,173,913) was thought to have been gambled during 1996. ‘Luck’, Spirituality and the ‘Asian’ Gambler A number of commentators on gambling behaviour have noted the importance of beliefs about luck and chance in influencing gambling behaviours (Keren and Weganaar, 1988; Wagenaar and Keren, 1988). Walker (1992, p. 41), in his review of the psychology of gambling, notes that regular blackjack players ‘appear to conceptualise luck as a personal characteristic that comes and goes rather like emotional moods,’ while bingo players ‘believe in luck as an attribute which can be enhanced or diminished by a person’s actions’ (1992, p. 67). He suggests (1992, p. 68) that ‘… gamblers playing numbers games behave as if these games of pure chance can be influenced and appear to believe that they themselves have the special knowledge or characteristics which increase their chance of winning.’ Reith (1999, pp. 166–167), in her review of the development of gambling in Western culture and the creation of the ‘age of chance’, suggests that ‘the belief in the power of their own luck is a tireless guide and support to players who know that the laws of probability are stacked against them, but, on another level, also know that their good fortune can overturn them’. In terms of the relationship between luck and chance, Reith draws on Wagennaar’s (1988) distinction, in suggesting that while the outcome of a game is governed by chance and therefore immutable, it is luck that determines how a gambler will bet on a game, inducing them to make the right choice. Reith goes on to note the belief that although it cannot be deliberately shared or exchanged, the good and bad luck that resides in people can sometimes emanate from them in a force that influences those around them. Very importantly, Reith notes that the ‘guidance of an unseen hand’ is a ‘constituent element of gamblers’ conceptions of their own luck: a semi-conscious apprehension of a guiding force. The idea of power resident within them is still there, but its’ origin is outwith themselves’ (1999, p. 174). In this sense, she suggests that gamblers imply that the unfolding of a game is overseen by some sort of ‘higher power’—conceived variously as fate, destiny, fortune, and sometimes even God and that winning in games of chance is taken as confirmation that the player is favoured by destiny. Bovee (1998), in arguing that Asian views of luck are different from Western views, suggests that whereas Western culture often perceives luck as amenable to human control, the Chinese and Thais, for example, view luck as not being directly under volitional control. They believe, rather, that ebbs and wane of luck occur and can be predicted using the principles of astrology or can be influenced through the control of spirits or interpretation of physical characteristics. Duong and Ohtsuka (2000) raise an additional point in relation to Vietnamese gamblers, suggesting that

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winning in gambling is seen to occur more often for those of good character whereas those of bad character lose. That is why winners are made more welcome on the same table, rather than losers who are shunned. Skilful and lucky players enjoy recognition and respect from their fellow players.

Gambling and Leisure The context in which gaming takes place has been identified as a crucial determinant of its potential and meaning as a form of leisure. Haywood et al. (1989) suggested that lotteries and raffles, for example, demand a minimum of time and no necessity for one’s physical presence at the draw. Most other forms of gaming, however, demand the players’ presence in social situations, which offer opportunities for sociability, and hence have great leisure potential. In most card games, and in dominoes and some board games, the reversal of the process found in betting occurs. The players are passive in the first stage of play, and rely on chance to deal their card, but then become actively involved in determining the outcome of the game. Such gaming is, by nature, social, and is therefore sufficiently engaging to stand as a major form of leisure in its own right, without the absolute necessity for gambling on the result The Seventh Survey of Community Gambling Patterns and Perceptions (VCGA, March 2000) offers some useful data on the perceptions of the desirability of gambling compared with other forms of leisure, and on the appeal of various leisure activities amongst those who gambled at least once per month on electronic gambling machines (EGM) or at the Casino. The appeal of gambling activities such as going to the Casino, going to the races/trots, playing EGMs and betting at the TAB was higher for regular EGM/Casino gamblers than for gamblers in general. However, these were still of less appeal to them than the non-gambling activities. The appeal of non-gambling activities for these regular EGM/Casino players was similar to that for all those who reported having gambled (VCGA, March 2000). In addition, over one quarter (26%) of gamblers agreed that they gambled for social reasons or to be with friends. This question of the relationship between gambling and leisure has also been explored in the 1998 Nova Scotia Video Lottery Players’ Survey, which found that problem video lottery terminal (VLT) players appeared to be more passive, less social, more attracted to visually and emotionally stimulating entertainment and were less involved in more pro-active activities including seeing family and friends, than were non problem but frequent VLT players (Focal Research, 1998). This brief literature review has identified a number of themes relevant to this study. First is the question of whether gambling is congruent with accepted community values about what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ forms of leisure, and the meaning of gambling within different communities among gamblers and non-gamblers. Second is the issue of vulnerability of members of immigrant groups and societies or groups in transition to gambling. Third, is the question of whether particular beliefs about luck in gambling emanate from particular cultures and

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whether these beliefs constitute risk or protective factors for those holding such beliefs. Aims and Methods The purpose of this study, as noted previously, was to explore the gambling behaviours of young Thai people resident in Melbourne; the meaning that gambling had for this group; whether the attitudes of these young Thai people towards gambling changed as a result of their being in a society with much more relaxed attitudes towards gambling; whether any such changes of attitude were reflected in gambling participation; and whether such participation had demonstrably negative impacts. It was also hoped to gain some insight into whether pre-existing beliefs and attitudes provided a protective or a risk factor in relation to the respondent’s gambling. Participant observation was the primary method of data collection. Bogdan (1972, p. 3) defines this as research characterized by a prolonged period of intense social reaction between the researcher and the subjects, in the milieu of the latter, during which time data, in the form of field notes, are unobtrusively and systematically collected. Jorgenson (1989) suggests that the ultimate aim of participant observation is to generate practical and theoretical truths about human life grounded in realities of daily existence. In a second phase of data collection following field-based observation, unstructured interviews were used to validate the observations made. To some extent, this represents the sort of ‘reflexive’ approach advocated by Gergen and Gergen (1991) in which the subjects of the research are invited to participate in interpreting the meaning of the data derived from study of them and their behaviours. In this case, group interviews were held with participants to give them an opportunity to reflect on the researcher’s observations and conclusions. In doing this, the researcher attempted to use, to the extent thought relevant, Reason’s (1994) approach to engaging the research subjects as active participants, even if not full ‘co-researchers’ in Reason’s meaning of the term. It should be noted, however, that some aspect of this continuous co-operative research activity was achieved by group participants having access to the researcher’s field notes. The Thai community in Victoria is largely divided into small individual groups, widely spread around Melbourne, unlike other ethic communities, which often cluster in distinct geographical areas. For these reasons haphazard sampling or convenience sampling was used in the present study, with some attempt to include a range of young people representative of a range of socio-economic backgrounds and experiences in Australia. The field researcher (Tanasornnarong) knew at least one member of each group who identified their own natural friendship group, a number of which became the units of study. Snowball sampling therefore was also a feature of the recruitment of the study population. Field notes were recorded in Thai and available to participants to read and comment on if they wished. If the participants asked the researcher not to record their comments, the researcher accepted this and did not enter those comments in


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notes or diary. No material relating to any other group was visible or shared with any other group members, except in cases where there was a meeting of two groups in one social setting. Recording conversations was one of the biggest issues faced in note taking. The primary reason for this was that in the Thai language there are no endings, agreements or affixes to mark grammatical functions or relationships and the meanings depend on word class and word order in sentences. There are no marked singulars or plurals in nouns; no marked tenses in verbs; no definite or indefinite articles; and the meaning usually depends on the context. Also, the Thai language nowadays has many slang terms derived from pop music, movies and popular press, often giving new meaning to the words or phrases. Turning jotting notes in Thai into correct English was therefore difficult. To make sense of the language itself, the researcher could not translate from Thai to English word by word. The translation had to recognise the context of the conversation and convey, in addition to the meaning of the words themselves, a sense of the actions and feelings associated with the language. Results Sample A total of 50 people aged 18 to 25, forming five natural friendship networks, were included in this study. They comprised students from Diploma to postgraduate level, with residence in Australia varying from 6-months to two-years. A number of the respondents also worked in Thai restaurants. Table 1 below shows details for one of the groups to give some indication of the composition of the sample. Groups were identified as Group A to E, while individual members of the groups were identified as A1 to 10, B1 to 10, C1 to 10, etc. The five groups were observed during a total of 184 sessions that involved some gambling behaviour within a leisure period. The mean number of times that each group gambled per week was four, with gaming times ranging from one hour to six hours per session per group with a mean of two hours. Gambling predominantly took the form of table game play at the casino. Data Analysis Method The subjective written material (jotting notes and diary) on the 184 participant observation sessions were first examined to develop a close familiarity with the material. These observation sessions ranged from one hour to eight hours and were undertaken in a range of venues such as shared houses, restaurants and the Casino. During the process of reviewing field notes, a range of recurring topics was identified and a list made of all of these. This was done primarily by noting specific words and terms and the meanings attached to these words in the first instance. This process of thematic analysis did not rely on categorisation of data based on previously determined categories, but on an inductive process in which the categories of data

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N. Tanasornnarong et al. Table 1. Composition of a typical group of respondents

Group C C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

C9

C10

Details of group members • Female, aged 21, born in Bangkok area, studying English and resident for three months. • Living with an Australian family, in a ‘home stay’ in CBD area. Parents work as public school teachers. • Female, aged 22, born in Southern Thailand, studying Advertising and resident for six months. • Sharing accommodation with C4 and C8. Family own a rubber plantation. • Female, aged 22, born in Eastern Thailand, studying English and resident for three months. • Sharing accommodation with C5, C7, C9 and C10 in the southern suburbs. Family are owners of a private secondary school. • Female, aged 23, born in Northeast Thailand, studying English and resident for one month. • Living in a home stay in the northeast suburbs. Parents work in a professional capacity for one of the largest factories in their region. • Female, aged 25, born in Eastern Thailand, studying English and resident for three months. • Sharing accommodation with C3, C7 C9 and C10. Family are owners of a small hardware shop in a regional city. • Female, aged 24, born in Southern Thailand, studying Tourism and resident for six months. • Living in a flat in CBD surrounding area. Parents work in professional capacity in primary industry processing. • Female, aged 24, born in Eastern Thailand, studying Visual Arts and resident for one year. • Sharing accommodation with C3, C5, C9 and C10. Both parents are teachers. • Female, aged 25, born in Far South Thailand, studying Tourism, and resident for ten months. • Living in a home stay in the northern suburbs. Parents are owners of shops. • Male, aged 24, born in Northeast Thailand, older brother of C10, studying Management and resident for one year. • Sharing accommodation with C3 C5, C7, and C10. Parents work in the hotel industry. • Male, aged 19, born in Northeast Thailand, the younger brother of C9, studying English and resident for one month. • Sharing accommodation with C3, C5, and C7 and C9. Parents work in the hotel industry.

or themes, emerged from the field notes or records of observation sessions (Berg, 1989; Rice and Ezzy, 1999). From detailed and repeated reading of the records, themes were identified until a point was reached where no new categories of behaviour were able to be identified. This is akin to the ‘theoretical saturation’ of Glaser and Strauss (1967) and Strauss and Corbin (1990).


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Also noted were group ‘process’ issues and topics including ‘gossip’ about other group members, whether present or not, and other friends. In this case, the subject matter of the gossip was recorded. For example, this gossip was typically about relationships and money matters, such as, who owed money to whom, and what peoples’ families did for a living. Other session aspects noted were the feeling states identified by the participants, such as boredom, and feeling states inferred by the researcher, such as low self esteem, loneliness, and fear of the future. Six major themes were identified. These included: • Money. This was identified as a theme where money itself was the focus of discussion. This included discussion of different ways of earning money, keeping it once it was earned, maximising it, organising it, and, to some extent, spending it. This included much explicit discussion of wages and work conditions, such as the merits of shift work and ‘micro’ financial issues such as how to earn more bonuses and tips, for those in hospitality work. • Fortune and luck. This was identified as a theme where there was explicit discussion of a range of issues to do with personal luck and past, present and future fortune. It included discussion of consultation with fortune-tellers, destiny and life chances, and the various ways in which fortune and luck related to each other, how they could be demonstrated, and how knowledge of one’s status in relation to these could be increased, or if not increased, at least maximised. • Consumerism. This theme differed from ‘money’ as a theme in that it refers to issues such as appearance/image and personal presentation, including what products and brands were seen to be more desirable. It is therefore a much more ‘applied’ version of some of the discussions on money, and contained much discussion of issues of personal style and the demonstration of a certain degree of wealth, where this could be taken by observers to be a sign of personal good fortune and good character. • Entertainment. This was identified as a theme when discussion focussed on how to spend leisure time and where to spend this time. This included discussion of the Casino as a broad entertainment venue rather than specifically as a gambling venue. Although somewhat difficult to separate out ‘entertainment’ from ‘consumerism’ at times due to the fact that shopping was considered as entertainment, the theme was identified as a major theme when discussion was focused on how to spend time rather than what to buy, as in the previous theme. • Spirituality and superstition. This theme was used to characterise discussions where there was significant reference to beliefs derived from religious or secular systems, about how behaviour and outcomes might be influenced by spirits, for example. It included specific reference to prayer and the role of prayer as a method for communicating with spirits. An example of this theme was the discussion of an employee in a restaurant that a number of the respondents worked in, as being a spirit medium. • Gambling. This theme was identified when there was explicit discussion of gambling including strategies of play. This differed from ‘entertainment’ to the extent that in conversations marked by gambling as a major theme, the focus was

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N. Tanasornnarong et al. Table 2. Major themes and number of leisure/discussion sessions Major theme

Money Fortune and luck Consumerism Entertainment Spirituality and superstitions Gambling Family values

Number of sessions in which this theme appeared 172 97 97 80 54 50 25

out out out out out out out

of of of of of of of

184 184 184 184 184 184 184

on gambling itself as a primary activity rather than being on entertainment, with gambling emerging as one of a number of entertainment possibilities. • Family values. This was identified as a theme when respondents explicitly referred to teachings from their families or what they referred to as ‘sayings’ or behavioural or attitudinal prescriptions which they believed, did or should, influence their personal and social behaviour. As may be seen from these definitions, there was potentially some overlap possible when deciding which label was the most appropriate. For example, discussion of attendance at the Casino could quickly move from an ‘entertainment’ focus to a ‘consumer’ focus, to a ‘gambling’ and ‘money’ focus. An attempt has been made to highlight primary themes in all those cases where a range of themes were identified. Table 2 shows the rate of occurrence of the themes, while Table 3 shows one aspect of the complexity of the sessions by noting the number of themes presenting in the observation sessions. Table 4 shows the co-occurrence of themes. This illustrates the interconnectedness of the themes, and shows, for example, that when money is identified as a primary theme, fortune and luck will be noted as a co-occurring theme in over half

Table 3. Number of themes and leisure/discussion sessions Number of themes in a session 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Number of leisure/discussion sessions 2 18 32 55 53 22 1 0

*Note: Session one, the introduction to the groups, contained no themes; therefore the total of the sessions in Figure 4 is 183.

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Table 4. Percentage of times that themes occur with each other in leisure/discussion sessions (N ⫽ 184) Primary theme Money

Co-themes Fortune and luck

Consumerism

Entertainment

Spirituality and superstitions

Gambling

Family values

%

% 54

% 54

% 44

% 29

% 27

% 14

% 96

%

% 55

% 41

% 47

% 33

% 8

% 55

% 96

%

% 47

% 16

% 18

% 16

% 95

% 50

% 58

%

% 24

% 21

% 15

% 94

% 83

% 30

% 35

%

% 39

% 11

% 10

% 64

% 34

% 34

% 42

%

% 10

% 96

% 32

% 64

% 48

% 84

% 20

%

Money

172 Fortune and luck 97 Consumerism 97 Entertainment 80 Spirituality and superstitions 54 Gambling 50 Family values 25

of the same sessions, as will the theme of consumerism. When ‘gambling’ is identified as a primary theme, ‘fortune and luck’ are identified in almost two thirds of the sessions while ‘money’ is identified in less than 10% of the sessions. Following the observation analysis, group interviews were conducted with the participants in which they considered whether the observations, in their opinion, reflected accurately their leisure and gambling practices, and in considering the results of the observation analysis, how did they now understand the meaning of gambling to them? The results of the group discussions are noted briefly below. In a two-hour group interview with six members of one group, a number of comments were made. One participant said that he did not think of himself or his friends as having a problem with their gambling, considering, rather, that it was just another leisure activity, which was legal in Melbourne. The Casino was seen as a place for entertainment more generally. Asked, ‘What do you think gambling means to you as an individual or as a group?’ one participant responded: I will answer for every one—gambling means nothing for us, because as you know, we love to be here at the Casino because everything is here. It is comfortable, it feels great, and makes a good impression on others—that we are seen here. We can also afford it; that is all we care about.

In a three-hour interview with seven members of the second group, one respondent noted that, ‘We are not problem gamblers because we just play for fun.’

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N. Tanasornnarong et al. When asked what gambling meant to them, participants commented: For me gambling means money—but we only do it for fun, and if we get money it is good for me to buy more things. I don’t really care about gambling but money is important to us, especially when we are here far away from our parents and we cannot ask them for money every day. To have money means that we are able to afford expensive clothes, go to expensive places to entertain ourselves and it looks good when others look at us.

The third group interview was conducted at the Thai Restaurant at which the participants worked. The interview lasted for one hour at the restaurant and continued in a less formal manner at the Casino for a further three hours. These group members also agreed that they did not have a problem with their level of gambling. Gambling was considered a relaxing activity for them and if money came in from gaming, they considered themselves lucky. According to one participant, ‘I like to play the game because it is exciting for me to play at the casino. If along the way I make money, I am lucky!’ Another pointed out that: We can be in the Casino to gamble or not gamble—no one would judge us badly. However, if we were in Thailand, just for being there and not gambling, everyone will point to us as bad people for being there. The casino in Melbourne not only gives us opportunity to entertain ourselves, but also lets others perceive us as high class—makes me feel extra special.

Another group member added: If I play a game and I won some money, it is my luck that my fortune helped me win and so, why not continue playing while the luck is still there? The money makes it more exciting.

The fourth and fifth groups, comprising 11 members, were interviewed for two hours together as most members resided in the same house. As the results were shared with the groups, one person responded, ‘I told you so – we do not have a problem with gambling’. Everyone laughed and agreed. Asked what gambling meant to them, participants responded: If we are in Thailand, going to gamble is illegal and bad. However, the Casino here is a place for entertainment. We get easy money, and keep ourselves entertained. If it happened that we make money—we are lucky, so be it. We cannot control our luck—it can go up and down. However, we pray and try to use our lucky charm to help us to get even more lucky. It is like if I wear the Buddha pendant on my neck—it will protect me from bad luck, give me the lucky charm to get what I want. It also deepens the fortune for the person next to us. It is easier making money this way than working at the restaurant, and fun at the same time. Go to the Casino; let others serve you, and it feels great. Much better than waiting at tables all night.


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Discussion From the observation data and the group interviews, it was evident that the majority of the young Thai people in the study thought that the presence, or absence for that matter, of money has more to do with ‘fortune and luck’ than to do with their labour, and identified having money as a manifestation of destiny or life chances. That is, they were either born with it or they were not. This was not the case with all members of the groups, however. Several members of the groups were concerned with looking for better paying jobs or obtaining additional shifts to earn more, although they were in the minority. The gambling activities of all five groups clearly showed that gambling was not about money per se but about passing time and about proving their fortune and luck to themselves and among their peers. It appeared from the observational sessions that vulnerability, boredom, loneliness and having a large amount of leisure time led many of these young Thai people to the only place that they considered both ‘luxurious’ and available to them at any time, the Casino. It might be expected that these young people, coming from an environment in which they had no experience of the gambling opportunities available in Melbourne, would be particularly vulnerable to these forms of gambling, particularly electronic gaming machines (EGMs). This may have been the case, if attendance at the Casino, for example, was primarily gambling-driven, and if the form of gambling most preferred was EGMs, which it was not. As the primary purpose for Casino attendance was entertainment more broadly, these young people were able to cope well with this environment because of their prior experience of ‘luxury-level’ entertainment venues. There was little evidence that the young Thai people in this study shared the characteristics of the young people that Griffiths (1991, 1995a, 1995b) identified as problem gamblers. That is, they did not gamble when depressed, although it was observed that they may gamble when bored; they did not come from the lower social classes; did not engage in other addictive behaviours, or have histories of delinquent behaviours. From these comparisons with empirical data on young problematic gamblers, it seems clear that the study sample, as may be expected from observation and from their responses to interpretation of this observation, in their behaviours, attitudes and histories, do not conform to behavioural, attitudinal or historical patterns characteristic of young problem gamblers. Despite the high participation rate of these groups of young Thai people in gambling, they are not typical of ‘Asian’ gambling patterns as detailed in the brief review of relevant literature. According to the VCGA report (Yamine and Thomas, 2000) on the impact of gambling on specific cultural groups and the attitude towards gambling among ‘Asian’ ethic groups, gambling was considered to be associated with shame in these ethic communities. Shame is interpreted in ethnic communities differently according to their cultural and religious beliefs, the same as with these young Thai people. However, the attitude towards gambling of the Thai young people in this study is such that instead of shame, they felt that gambling was a way to express their wealth and expectations. It may be, however, that shame attaches to excessive gambling mainly, and not to the recreational gambling, even

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heavy recreational gambling, typical of the study group. As noted previously, Duong and Ohtsuka’s (2000) study among Asians who win at gambling found that winning occurred more often in those perceived to be of good character whereas those perceived to be of bad character lost. These young Thai people appear to gamble their money not only to prove they had ‘fortune and luck’, but also to show to others that they are of good character by winning. For many of the young people in this study, there was an apparent paradox in their gambling behaviour. While gambling was associated with the pursuit of a lifestyle seen to be somewhat out of the ordinary and even luxurious and glamorous, the association of it with more general consumerist behaviour, may have acted as a protective factor to a large extent with the study group, as this association provided a context for the gambling that prevented it from becoming the main focus of social activity. This context may have served to limit the depth of participation of those who may have had a propensity to gamble in a harmful way in other circumstances. The social setting in which the gambling occurred, in a group, as part of other leisure activities, rather than as a specific focus is one of the main factors distinguishing this group of young people from other young people with more harmful patterns of play. In the VCGA (2000) report it was also noted that the effect of migrating to Australia and the resultant experiences and feeling of loneliness and boredom were cited by minority community members as common reasons for gambling. This was borne out in the present study. Not only did these young Thai people’s feeling of loneliness and boredom lead them to gamble, they also used it as a way of experiencing their new found freedom and as an opportunity to display an image of a lifestyle filled with leisure and perceived wealth. Just as Cook’s (1989) study of fortune-tellers found that they acted as advisors to clients, the present study also found that these young Thai people sought advice from fortune-tellers before arrival, and also while resident in Melbourne. As indicated in Tables 3 and 4, the theme of spirituality and superstition occurred in over one quarter of the group sessions, and was associated with discussion of money in nearly all of these cases (94%) and associated with fortune and luck in over 82% of the cases. It was also found that the research participants often referred to Crown Casino as ‘wat mon kuk’ or ‘Crown Temple’. This could be interpreted as them considering the Casino as relaxing, a way of passing time and somewhere comfortable, but also, as a place connected with spirituality and superstition in which to test and prove their ‘fortune and luck’. Conclusion The young Thai people in this study were not gambling with a specified aim of winning money. In their case, winning money was symbolic of their status as a lucky or fortunate person. These groups used gambling to express their wealth and enhance their image. Through their gambling, participants drew on a range of beliefs to increase their chances of winning, for example by wearing a lucky charm, which they believed would help them win. These views on luck, fortune and its symbolism


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are consistent with those outlined by Walker (1992) and Reith (1999) as being typical of many players of games of chance, but in this group, appear to be linked to a more systematic world view, even if the strength of this and the strength of their cultural indebtedness is not always clear to the young people themselves. In this sense, the embeddedness of gambling within a larger context of social activity and beliefs, acted as a protective factor. What remained unclear, even by the end of this study, was the extent to which the attitudes of these young Thai people towards gambling changed as a result of their being in a society with more relaxed attitudes towards gambling and whether these changes of attitude were reflected in gambling participation. Clearly, participation had increased in the legal gambling environment in which they were now located, but whether this was due to any change of attitude or simply an integration of gambling into a high level of group sociability and an ‘entertainment’ focused group culture is not clear. Some of the explanation for this may reside in the primary method of data collection—observation of group social behaviour, rather than in-depth interviews. Even in the group interviews conducted, there was some reluctance to engage with specific questions on gambling attitudes, either past or present, because of some fear, we believe, that they would be seen to fit with a stereotype of the pre-occupied and somewhat driven ‘Asian gambler’, if they displayed too much consciousness in interview of their own gambling behaviours and attitudes.

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