ABSTRACT
In the past 40 years the views on gambling in Sweden and many other Western countries have become more liberal. This is a consequence of the shift from industrial to postindustrial society, implying that citizens primarily are viewed as consumers rather than producers (Abt, Smith, & Christiansen, 1985, chap. 6; Binde, 2005b; Kingma, 1997; Reith, 2007). In Western industrial societies, gambling had been condemned on moral grounds and according to the Protestant work ethic. Citizens should work diligently and not indulge in fantasies about becoming rich without effort by entering lotteries, nor should they waste time on card games and other forms of gambling. With citizens viewed as consumers rather than producers, gambling emerges as a consumer product offering entertainment, excitement, an opportunity to socialize with others, and other experiences that people are willing to pay for. The moral stigma, which had previously marked gambling, has largely vanished. Nowadays in Sweden, for instance, people need not feel shame when buying a lottery ticket or entering the football pools. A day at the trotting track is today marketed as a family excursion, and the old image of the racetrack habitué as an inveterate and degenerate gambler is largely gone.
