The showcase will open with a short introduction by the RANGES Executive.

Voices of those with lived experience: Gambling harm among female affected others - Megan Bailey – Australia Abstract: Australia’s first national prevalence survey of affected others found a past-year reported gambling harm estimate of 6.0% of the adult population (Hing et al., 2022). It also intimated that the burden of gambling-related harm is likely to be more gendered than previously understood. Given the concentration of harm amongst women impacted by another person’s gambling (usually intimate partners), this study focused on how female affected others experience and respond to gambling harm. By engaging people with lived experience, the study also aimed to explored how affected others can be better supported by gambling help services in the community. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interview methods. Fifteen representatives from local gambling support services, and 30 women who self-identified as affected others, were interviewed. Results were organised into a) types of harm and b) attitudes towards help-seeking. The study found gambling-related harm to be widespread in the lives of affected others, often overlapping but primarily concentrated in the financial, emotional and relationship domains of harm. Recognising that affected others mostly do not engage with professional services – findings report on both ‘perceived’ and ‘emotional’ factors that may prompt –or deter help seeking among this group. A public health approach for effective harm prevention is also discussed. The voices of those with lived experience of gambling harm are featured in a series of animated clips. They will be played throughout the presentation as evidence of effective research translation. This digital health promotion resource was design to reduce stigma, raise awareness and promote help-seeking among the target group. Simultaneous translation (French/English) will be available for this presentation.

Is the Finnish gambling monopoly posting sports news and inside stories a form of gamblification? - Paula Jääskeläinen - Finland Recent studies on gambling companies’ social media use have repeatedly concluded that sports-related content is one of the cornerstones in gambling companies’ social media communication. This presentation sheds light on the gamblification of sports on social media within the­ context of the gambling monopoly of Finland. The state-owned gambling monopoly, Veikkaus, was established specifically in the name of public health to prevent and reduce gambling harm. Although gambling marketing is heavily regulated, gambling advertisements remain common on all Finnish media. The data for the present study consists of 1,783 sports-related posts published by Veikkaus on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, collected during the month of March in 2018, 2019, and 2020. The posts were coded and analyzed according to technical traits and content, with the help of a 50-item coding scheme that was developed in accordance with previous studies on social media marketing, and gambling marketing. A total of 135 of the sports-related posts were then randomly selected for closer examination using qualitative content analysis. The results show that Veikkaus actively posts current sports news and in-depth sports stories such as personal interviews and ‘locker room videos’ with sport stars. Using a variety of journalistic styles, the company gives the impression of being a reliable provider of newsworthy and relevant sports content, while utilizing typical social media engagement features such as competitions, comments, shares, and likes. By presenting itself as a ‘source for sports media’ , Veikkaus blurs the boundaries between sports and betting. Simultaneous translation (French/English) will be available for this presentation.

The Virtual Poster Session is an opportunity for students and early career researchers in the gambling field to highlight their work to a broad audience of individuals attending the Early Career Research Showcase.

The good, the bad and the ugly: the road to gambling reform in the UK - Steve Sharman – England Abstract : Gambling in the UK has reached, and arguably has been stuck at a significant crossroads for some time. The act that legislates gambling, the Gambling Act of 2005, has been under review for several months, and represents the greatest opportunity to update and revolutionise gambling legislation in a generation. In this presentation, I will review how we got to the stage we are now at, and discuss the different competing voices and their use of ‘evidence’ in reference to the ongoing review. I will then highlight some of the opportunities and challenges that the current UK environment poses for early career researchers, and how the gambling review could potentially impact the research field. Simultaneous translation (French/English) will be available for this presentation.

Monetization Strategies in Games: A Typology of Distribution and Service Models - Andrei Zanescu & Marc Lajeunesse - Canada Abstract: Over the last five years, gambling research on games has bloomed, and has diversified in terms of the kinds of mechanisms it covers (Zanescu et al., 2021a; Joseph, 2021; Brock & Johnson, 2021;Macey & Hamari, 2022), in terms of how regulators should react to gamblification (Xiao, 2022) and even how money and value flow through these systems (Thorhauge, 2022; Zanescu et al., 2021b). However, as recent work has discussed (Xiao et al., 2022), the broader superlative focus on lootboxes has led toskewed academic and regulatory attention on a set of technologies and techniques that may already be outdated. This gap, concerning other monetization practices, has produced an equally significant gap insofar as many games rely on multiple intersecting monetization strategies. The question that arises is then at what point do these composite monetization models become equally predatory as lootboxes, and how can scholars and regulators conduct analysis on these complex systems? This presentation proposes awork-in-progress purposive sampling and visualized method for qualifying and comparing such games, as well as a lexicon of monetization strategies that can be replicated and expanded as these technologies develop. We argue that the more monetization systems are at play, the more likely it is forgames to be predatory, and to require significant and intensified habituation of consumers (Reith, 2018; Ritzer & Jurgenson, 2010; Schull, 2012). Concretely, we first discuss the proposed game cataloguing method, informed by our previous work and platform studies work (Light et al., 2016). Then we provide a few key examples from our purposive sampling, including analysis of Destiny 2 (2017), Diablo: Immortal (2022), Genshin Impact (2020), Lost Ark (2019) and World of Warcraft (2004). Lastly, comparative analysis of these games will allow scholars and regulators to understand potentially predatory monetization strategies as a spectrum ranging from one technique to dozens meant to capture users. Simultaneous translation (French/English) will be available for this presentation.

The Virtual Poster Session is an opportunity for students and early career researchers in the gambling field to highlight their work to a broad audience of individuals attending the Early Career Research Showcase.

The importance of a public health approach to addressing the normalisation of gambling: An Australian case study - Hannah Pitt – Australia Abstract: Gambling is a significant public health issue that has negative health and social consequences for not only the gambler, but families, and communities. Traditionally, gambling has often been looked at as an issue of addiction and individual responsibility. However, public health experts have argued that a broader determinants approach is needed to consider the range of factors that influence people’s attitudes, behaviours, and overall experiences of harm. Recently, research has started to explore the factors contributing to the normalisation of gambling for different subgroups, with a particular focus on the impact of commercial and political factors. Recognising a public health approach to gambling is critical in denormalising gambling and preventing and reducing gambling related harm. The key public health advocacy responses to addressing gambling include reducing the accessibility and availability of gambling products in communities, restrictions of gambling marketing, disrupting the relationship between gambling and sport, and the need for counter- framing in commercial messages. This presentation will outline the current evidence relating to the factors contributing to normalisation and the public health strategies needed to respond. This will include the voices from three population subgroups: young people, women, and older adults, and explore the range of strategies they think need to be implemented to prevent normalisation and reduce harm. Simultaneous translation (French/English) will be available for this presentation.

The showcase will close with remarks given by the RANGES Executive