ABSTRACT

Does the increasing reliance of governments on gambling industries for revenue preclude ethical regulation of gambling products, spaces, moments, and practices?

This chapter uses the concept of finopower to explore alternatives to the way that relationships between spaces, products, and practices of gambling, finance, and play are currently organized and governed within neoliberal societies. It considers whether it is accurate to describe electronic gaming machines as gambling products and examines different grounds from which criticism of gambling’s seepage into everyday life have been articulated. Drawing on gamblers’ testimonies and consumer advocacy campaigns, I link gambling’s neoliberal governance to deeper constitutional questions about the role of property in mediating enjoyment in settler-colonizing societies.