Hey everyone, I’ve just posted a new occasional paper over at http://gaming.unlv.edu. It’s part of a bigger study of locals sports books by recent UNLV sociology Ph.D. Fred Krauss:
Fred Krauss. “Taking the Points: The Socialization Process of a Sports Book Regular.”
Patrons of a casino sports book use the environment for much more than the instrumental task of sports betting. It is also a place to congregate with other like-minded patrons and through this process complex interactional dynamics develop over time. The social world of the sports book emerges in a designated space for the betting act where patrons meet, interact, and establish a culture to which they adhere.
Read paper (pdf)
This was an interesting one–I see Krauss’s work as an extension of John D. Rosecrance’s seminal Degenerates of Lake Tahoe, a ground-breaking study of horse players in, wild guess, Lake Tahoe. I look forward to seeing more from Dr. Krauss.
I’ve also been editing the CGR header a bit–I’m still not totally happy with it, but if I was, my job would be pretty boring.