ABSTRACT
Introduction Studies in gambling have oen focused on matters of individual pathology2 and yet, on a number of psychological dimensions, no signicant differences have been found between gamblers and non-gamblers.3 Part of the explanation for this lack of dierence is the fact that so widespread an activity as gambling can be “many things to many people.”4 Another reason is that while recognized as one of our major social problems, gambling also constitutes a major American paradox, uctuating as it does between tolerance and condemnation, with a very thin line drawn between legal and illegal forms.5 It seems obvious that to exist in this state of limbo, gambling must serve important social and psychological functions. is [chapter] is an attempt to delineate some functions of one form of gambling as it occurs in a small lower-class residential community.
