Staying In : Women and Gambling in Contemporary Domestic Life

This chapter argues that a key feature in the growth of gambling markets has been their targeting of new audiences of women consumers, who are sold a product that offers a ‘treat’ as an earned moment of relief from everyday routines. Beginning with a discussion of the ‘feminisation of gambling’, the chapter explores contemporary formations of gambling practice that have attended to the experiences and motivations of women within domestic settings. It describes how changes to gambling policy and consumer choice have heralded a new era of gambling whereby the domestic has become central to gambling participation, especially for women. Drawing on extracts from the Gambling and Households data, the chapter goes on to examine the unique experiences of women gambling at home. It shows how the harms and the risks of harm posed by gambling are multiple, complex and are tied to experiences within and relationships around domestic life.