“Big Gambling”: the rise of the global industry-state gambling complex

Abstract

Globa1 commercial gambling has grown to be an industry of remarkable size and power. Over the past decade, gambling losses have risen from approximately $250 billion USD in 2003 to $450 billion in 2013 (The Economist, 2014). No longer gambling is low-key and small-scale, the differentiated expression of local cultures {Binde, 2005). It is a global economic project, one central to the liberalisation of markets associated with the emergence of the international consumer society (Reith, 2013).