1st Edition

Online Gambling and Crime Causes, Controls and Controversies

By James Banks Copyright 2014
    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    194 Pages
    by Routledge

    Offering the first empirically driven assessment of the development, marketisation, regulation and use of online gambling organisations and their products, this book explores the relationship between online gambling and crime. It draws upon quantitative and qualitative data, including textual and visual analyses of e-gambling advertising and the records of player-protection and standards organisations, together with a virtual ethnography of online gambling subcultures, to examine the ways in which gambling and crime have been approached in practice by gamers, regulatory agencies and online gambling organisations. Building upon contemporary criminological theory, it develops an understanding of online gambling as an arena in which risks and rewards are carefully constructed and through which players navigate, employing their own agency to engage with the very real possibility of victimisation. With attention to the manner in which online gambling can be a source of criminal activity, not only on the part of players, but also criminal entrepreneurs and legitimate gambling businesses, Online Gambling and Crime discusses developments in criminal law and regulatory frameworks, evaluating past and present policy on online gambling. A rich examination of the prevalence, incidence and experience of a range of criminal activities linked to gambling on the Internet, this book will appeal to scholars and policy makers in the fields of sociology and criminology, law, the study of culture and subculture, risk, health studies and social policy.

    Online Gambling and Crime

    Biography

    James Banks is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the Department of Law and Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

    ’James Banks has written a very original, insightful and readable book. He offers a fascinating view into the world of online gambling and its intersections with manifold forms of crime. This is an important book that deserves attention from students and scholars of internet crime, crime and culture, as well as all those concerned with the regulation and policing of games of chance in the digital era.’ Majid Yar, University of Hull, UK 'This book is essential reading for any academic, online industry operator, regulatory body and all graduate and postgraduate students with a forensic interest in online gambling and online gambling-related crime. The book is well structured, written in an engaging and scholarly style, and is highly informative. It offers a comprehensive account of a very complex relationship between two common behaviours that seeps with empirical data. A highly recommended read. This is a must for the bookshelves of all those interested in the connection between online gambling and crime.' International Gambling Studies 'Online Gambling and Crime is a thorough and noteworthy contribution to a surprisingly neglected area of research. While others, including myself, were overlooking digital betting, James Banks was busy cracking open the lucrative and seemingly ubiquitous transnational phenomenon. ... Online Gambling and Crime is a significant contribution to the discipline. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in crime related to online gambling and will most likely become a work that one must cite to be taken seriously on the subject. ... Overall, Online Gambling and Crime stands out as a key scholarly contribution, one which indicates a promising future for its author.' British Journal of Criminology '... Online Gambling and Crime makes a substantial contribution to the scholarship. It is a unique, imaginative, and enlightening book. It is a must read for those interested in the interconnections between online gambling and crim