Gambling as Play

Abstract

Individuals are socialized into a culture by means of various myths and rituals characteristic of that culture. Among the rituals that reflect, articulate, and transmit cultural myths are play and games. Materialism and competition are two distinguishing traits of the American character that are reflected in the games children and adolescents play; and in a world that encourages great expectations while offering diminishing opportunities for fulfillment, the playing of gambling games provides a form of recreation that is a product of and a contributor to prevailing cultural myths. The cultural context of childhood and adolescent socialization is discussed. Within this context, selected games combining chance and skill illustrate ways in which individuals learn to bet. As teacher and mirror of cultural values, such games may actually predispose Americans to gambling behavior, and it is not surprising that commercial gambling among adults has become such a significant social, economic, and cultural issue in contemporary American civilization.

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References

1. Johan Huizinga , Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (Boston: Beacon Press, 1955), p. 17.

2. Ibid., p. 15.

3. Erving Goffman , Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), p. 27.

4. Roger Caillois , Man, Play, and Games, trans. Meyer Barash (New York: Schocken Books, 1979), pp. 6-10.

5. Mike Goodman , How to Win (Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1963), p. 89.

6. Callois , Man, Play, and Games, p. 58.

7. Ibid., pp. 64-65.

8. Leon Chorbajian , “The Social Psychology of American Males and Spectator Sports,” International Journal of Sport Psychology, 9(3):167 (1978).

9. Commission on the Review of the National Policy toward Gambling Gambling in America (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1976), pp. 58-59.

10.

10. Chorbajian , “The Social Psychology of American Males,” p. 168.

11.

11. Erving Goffman , Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior (Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1967), pp. 149-270.

12.

12. Ibid., p. 185.

13.

13. Ibid., p. 154.

14.

14. Ibid., p. 209.

15.

15. Ibid., pp. 218-37.

16.

16. Gambling in America, p. 67.

17.

17. Richard Sasuly , Bookies and Bettors: Two Hundred Years of Gambling (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982), pp. 34-35.

18.

18. Mario Puzo , Inside Las Vegas (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1977), p. 111.

19.

19. Ibid., p. 121.

20.

and Stephen Conn and Judith B. Marquez , “The Social Context of Pinball: The Making of a Setting and Its Etiquette,” The World of Play, ed. Frank E. Manning (West Point, NY: Leisure Press, 1983), pp. 66-77.

21.

21. New York Times, 28 Dec. 1941.

22.

22. J. Anthony Lukas , quoted in Packard and Browne , “Pinball Machine,” p. 185.

23.

23. Puzo , Inside Las Vegas, p. 111.

24.

24. Ibid., p. 121.

25.

25. Ibid., p. 112.