Abstract
Online Gambling and Crime by James Banks examines the growth, marketing, and regulation of gambling and the consequences these have for crime in the digital age. The book is an introduction to the themes and debates surrounding the organisation of illegal online operators, cyber extortion, money laundering, match fixing, and fraud. It is a compendium of virtual villains and victims that is insightful and informative. The book is also a creative research venture – unique, vivid, and engaging – that maps a cultural framework for understanding consumers in the digital gambling environment. Banks uses an ethnographic approach and edgework theory to study the scope and character of fraud and theft at gambling sites and to explore player experiences with what he calls ‘dangerous risks’. He argues that an ‘advantage play subculture’ provides some players with a toolbox of techniques to make money, limit risks and assert agency, while simultaneously equipping them to enjoy the excitement of gambling. Banks documents the preventative measures – legal, technological, and educational – that are deployed to limit online threats and cybercrimes. He chronicles the range of national and international stake holders (i.e. government agencies, private firms, industry bodies, sport organisations, and community groups), evaluates the diversity of their crime control techniques (i.e. legal instruments, commercial technological solutions, codes of conduct, integrity units, precautionary programs, and educational efforts) and concludes that they are plentiful and pragmatic. He insists, however, that these bodies and remedies are individualistic and bereft of oversight and coordinated direction. Part of the solution going forwards, he says, is more legalisation, better regulation, and the reduction of the sizeable ‘black market’ in gambling products and practices that enhance online gambling crimes.
Online Gambling and Crime fills a gap in the scholarly literatures where criminology and gambling studies intersect. But the results from his ethnography leave the reader wanting more. How typical is the advantage play subculture? How are cultural practices produced, reproduced and circulated? If edgework is theoretically important to cultural analysis why is it conceived so narrowly at the level of psychic experience? If players are active agents negotiating the online gambling environment, why is there no discussion of consumer-driven crime control measures such as shaming, boycotts, and reparation that followed in the aftermath of the Absolute and UltimateBet scandals? A related concern arises in regard to the methods of his study. While the data from online monitoring services are clearly contextualised, the data from the player participants is not. Neither the number of players or threads used in the sample, nor the protocols and problems of data collection are discussed in much detail. For example, it is not clear how much data was collected and when, from how many players and why, and affecting how many sites and types of play? While field notes are deployed to identify attitudes and experiences we do not know how the data were coded; nor are we provided with much insight into the thinking that framed methodological decisions. These omissions detract from an otherwise important analysis of the online gambling milieu because it is difficult to ascertain reliability and validity for comparison purposes.
The promise of regulatory expansion and control must be considered carefully. Yet Banks asserts rather than demonstrates the case for reform. The concluding chapter is brief and does not address the many controversies surrounding legalisation. Banks rightly observes that regulatory approaches range from prohibition to monopolies to licensing. But prohibition and state monopolies depend strongly on law enforcement. Initially the online poker market was not regulated and prohibitions were selectively enforced. Then in 2011 stringent law enforcement in the US caused an enormous market decrease there. However, in all other prohibition countries little changed because law enforcement was non-existent in these jurisdictions. The result was an expanding global market that did not inhibit social costs or crime. State monopolies claim to ‘canalise’ the unregulated market to diminish costs, strengthen security, and increase state revenues. Yet such monopolies often result in small markets with higher prices and less innovation for consumers. For example, state monopolies in Canada (Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba) account for about 8% of the total market and the Quebec Government’s online presence in 2011 did not channel illicit gambling monies to the regulated environment as expected (Friedler, 2014). ‘Black market’ websites are still very popular among Quebec gamblers, and in Sweden the state gambling monopoly seems to have recruited new players for so-called outlaw sites. Licensing schemes have similar objectives but they can transition to large markets. In France, Italy, and Spain about 80% to 90% of online poker markets are now regulated (Friedler, 2014). Since most major operators are included, the remaining ones, illegal or not, have limited player participation and these markets require little law enforcement effort, although they may contribute to problem-gambling-related crime. Thus my point is that online gambling and its regulation is replete with social, legal and political issues where legalisation creates its own set of ironies, which must be studied carefully and comparatively before it is valorised as a preferred solution.
That said, 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 crime, as well as those studying cybercrime more generally.