ABSTRACT
Gambling in one form or another has been a feature of all cultures, but it has been legalised and commercialised on a grand scale only since the 1960s. Fuelled by growing middle-class affluence and the liberalisation of social values in western industrialised nations, commercial interests have seen gambling as a new opportunity for profitable investment. Governments have been spurred to legalise gambling by the prospect of additional revenues and the need to control the spread of existing illegal activities. Popular gambling practices have been reorganised to conform to commercial criteria and new forms of gambling have been introduced to entice new players. In the case of horseracing and casino games, traditional gambling cultures have been incorporated into broad policies of economic development, notably the expansion of mass tourism and entertainment industries.
