ABSTRACT

A focus on the ethics of gambling industry funding is new territory and research and intervention will take time to evolve. As commercialized gambling proliferates throughout Western democracies and as it begins to engage developing nations and nations in transition, the challenges posed by moral jeopardy in community-industry relationships will become increasingly apparent. This chapter is devoted to exploring in more detail three different but interlinked approaches that could be adopted, or at least partially adopted, to help protect social and political ecologies from distorting influences. The first approach examines the use of harm minimization strategies for managing subtle degradation and moral jeopardy. The second approach outlines a framework and guidelines for self-assessment of moral jeopardy as a means of promoting a proactive ethical approach to the risks inherent in industrial relationships. The third approach examines the development of an international charter as a means of promoting benchmark ethical standards that guide governments in their duty of care when they opt to participate in the global expansion of commercial gambling. The approaches examined are by no means exhaustive of what could be advanced. They are intended to provide initial examples that, along with other approaches, could be incorporated into an overall strategy aimed at protecting democratic systems from the subtle degradations associated with gambling.