Social Work, College of Science, Health and Engineering, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
Mallee District Aboriginal Services, Mildura, Australia.
J Gambl Stud. 2019 Jun;35(2):653-670. doi: 10.1007/s10899-018-9779-6.
Bingo playing in Australian Indigenous communities has received little academic attention. We report here on an exploratory study designed to understand the complex benefits and harms associated with bingo playing for Aboriginal people in Sunraysia, a regional community in Victoria, Australia. The research was strongly participatory, and conducted in collaboration with staff of an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation. Twenty-six members of the Sunraysia Aboriginal community were interviewed, with interviews primarily conducted by workers from the Aboriginal organisation. Echoing research from other countries, but with a unique focus on the experience of bingo for Aboriginal people in Australia, this study demonstrates compelling reasons why Aboriginal people in Sunraysia play bingo, and how bingo playing both exposes players to risk and mitigates against a wide range of harms. We found that, for many people in the study, bingo was variously a site that reinforces social connectedness, a source of fun and excitement and a strategy to find solace or respite in the face of personal pain and structural injustice. In contrast with other forms of gambling, bingo presents risks that can generally be managed, largely because of the smaller financial spend involved. However, people also described harms including exhausting the family budget, family conflict and encouragement to commence other forms of gambling. We argue for enhanced regulation of commercial bingo and suggest that not-for-profit bingo be implemented as a harm reduction strategy to enable people to experience some of the pleasures associated with gambling, with reduced risk of financial and social harms.
在澳大利亚原住民社区中，宾果游戏并没有受到太多学术关注。我们在此报告了一项探索性研究，旨在了解在澳大利亚维多利亚州的一个地区社区——森赖斯（Sunraysia），宾果游戏对原住民所带来的复杂利益和危害。该研究具有很强的参与性，是与一个原住民社区控制的组织的工作人员合作进行的。我们采访了 26 名森赖斯原住民社区的成员，主要由原住民组织的工作人员进行访谈。与其他国家的研究相呼应，但又特别关注澳大利亚原住民玩宾果的体验，本研究有力地证明了为什么在森赖斯的原住民要玩宾果，以及宾果游戏如何既使玩家面临风险，又能减轻各种危害。我们发现，对于研究中的许多人来说，宾果游戏在不同程度上是一个加强社会联系的场所，是一种乐趣和兴奋的来源，也是在面对个人痛苦和结构性不公正时寻找安慰或缓解的策略。与其他形式的赌博不同，宾果游戏带来的风险通常可以管理，这主要是因为涉及的财务支出较小。然而，人们也描述了一些危害，包括耗尽家庭预算、家庭冲突和鼓励开始其他形式的赌博。我们主张加强对商业宾果的监管，并建议实施非营利性宾果游戏作为一种减少危害的策略，使人们能够体验到与赌博相关的一些乐趣，同时降低财务和社会危害的风险。
