“Gambling is Gambling”: Creating Decontextualized Space at an Indian Racecourse

Puri, Stine Simonsen

doi:10.1057/9781137299543_4

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 6 publications

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“…As discussed elsewhere, rather than attempting to redraw moral lines, bettors kept family as well as religion at a distance from their betting practices. 10 Such modes of concealment enabled a kind of parallel life for the bettors, where the city became a place where they could move around in demarcated places, defined by separate social and moral frameworks.…”

Section: Hidden Spacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships of Chance: Friendships in a Gambling Setting of Urban India

Puri

2016

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies

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This paper examines male friendship at the Delhi racecourse as an example of a sociality amidst an urban South Asian setting defined by uncertainty and the absence of fixed identities. It argues that such friendships are 'relationships of chance', embodying and reflecting the contingency of the gambling arena, rather than sociological or ritual notions which may condition friendship in other settings. This hyper-competitive and hyper-social space configures both the possibility and impossibility of friendship. The paper thus provides insights into how relating to others happens in a heterogeneous, fluid context that is over-determined mainly by a shared passion for self-enrichment.

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Section: Hidden Spacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships of Chance: Friendships in a Gambling Setting of Urban India

Puri

2016

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies

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Gaming lounges in India afford socially productive gambling: The moral economy and foundations of play in Udaipur, Rajasthan

Snodgrass,

Lacy,

Polzer

et al. 2024

Ethos

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We use ethnographic observations, interviews, and surveys to illuminate video game‐related gambling in India, where players use as currency decorative in‐game weapon covers referred to as skins. We focus on gaming and gambling related to virtual items acquired in the popular shooter game Counter‐Strike: Global Offensive, and our study unfolds among young adults who play in face‐to‐face centers called gaming lounges or zones. We consider how networks of video game players, themselves influenced by familial and societal demands, form moral economies that regulate why video game items are exchanged and how they are evaluated. Further, we use moral foundations theory to clarify ethical plurality in these settings, with tensions between moral demands shaping how and whether skins exchanges are judged to be socially productive or harmful. We show how gaming lounge owners’ personal values, some religiously informed, render emerging adults who play in these settings less at risk of excessive gambling, which is not tolerated either within close‐knit gaming groups or broader society. Overall, our analysis points to the utility of bringing into dialogue moral economy and moral foundations perspectives to uncover the cultural meanings of linked gaming and gambling in this context.

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“Gambling is Gambling”: Creating Decontextualized Space at an Indian Racecourse

Cited by 2 publications

References 6 publications

Relationships of Chance: Friendships in a Gambling Setting of Urban India

Relationships of Chance: Friendships in a Gambling Setting of Urban India

Gaming lounges in India afford socially productive gambling: The moral economy and foundations of play in Udaipur, Rajasthan

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