Stigma is particularly attached to online gambling, often linked to secrecy, youth risk and loss of control. Land-based gambling, especially in social
environments, is more visible, shared and culturally normalised.
Can Stigma drive excessive or harmful gambling?
Yes. Paradoxically, stigma can intensify harmful behaviour. When individuals fear judgment, they tend to gamble alone, in secrecy, and with fewer social support networks. Tis privacy reinforces loss of control and delays help-seeking. By treating gambling as a deviant behaviour rather than a regulated leisure practice, stigma pushes vulnerable players to the margins, where risks are greater and protective factors weaker.
What is the sample size?
Te study analysed 726 press articles from national and regional newspapers in Spain, published between 2011 and 2024, covering the period shaped by the Ley 13/2011, the digital expansion of private gambling and the regulatory shift on advertising.
Is there any evidence to suggest that stigma is more associated with women than men?
Te discourse analysed is not primarily gendered: stigma in the Spanish public sphere targets the practice itself and the symbolic figure of “the player” rather than specifically women or men. However, the underlying moral narrative, risk, irresponsibility, loss of control, does impact women differently in cultural terms: women players are more easily judged as “bad mothers” or “inadequate caregivers,” whereas men are framed as “reckless” or “weak.” Although the media do not stigmatise women more quantitatively, the social cost of stigma can be higher for them because it clashes with traditional gender expectations.
Is stigma more associated with online as opposed to land-based gambling based on the fact that it is a private/solitary activity?
Yes. Te findings show that stigma is particularly attached to online gambling, often linked to secrecy, youth risk and loss of control. Land-based gambling, especially in social environments, is more visible, shared and culturally normalised. Online play, being private and solitary, becomes more easily framed as “addictive,” “hidden” or “unhealthy,” reinforcing its moral and biomedical stigma.
In the research do you collate the evidence to prove a hypothesis or do you start with blank sheet of paper?
Te project did not start from a closed hypothesis. It used a qualitative, exploratory approach, allowing meaning to emerge from the data rather than forcing predetermined conclusions. Te research asks: How is gambling represented? Who defines it? With what social effects? Tis grounded design strengthens the credibility of the findings and avoids ideological bias.
How important is it to have secured the backing from the ICE Research Institute – would you have been able to conduct the project without the support?
Te support of the ICE Research Institute has been crucial. It guarantees independence, legitimacy, access and impact. While the project could have been conducted academically on a smaller scale, ICE’s backing enables broader dissemination, stronger methodological resources and higher industry engagement. It also sends a clear message: the sector is willing to confront difficult questions and invest in knowledge, not just reputation.
How will you use the findings?
Te results will inform policy recommendations, industry standards and communication strategies to move from a narrow model of “responsible gambling” toward a more effective framework of shared responsibility, one that distributes obligations among regulators, industry, media, communities and players, reducing harm without producing stigma.
If society is more accepting of gambling would that remove stigma?
Not by itself. A more tolerant society would reduce some moral pressure, but stigma would persist if public discourse continues to moralise risk and individualise harm. Cultural change requires coherent regulation, public education and non-sensationalist media narratives. Without that, tolerance simply shifts the surface of the problem, while stigma remains embedded in cultural meanings and institutional practices.
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