Problem gambling among male Polish prisoners: A study of prevalence and psychosocial factors
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| Author | Bernadeta Lelonek-Kuleta,Rafał P Bartczuk |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865819890379 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Australian & New Zealand Journal of
Problem gambling among
Criminology
2020, Vol. 53(2) 231–247
!
male Polish prisoners:
The Author(s) 2019
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A study of prevalence and
DOI: 10.1177/0004865819890379
journals.sagepub.com/home/anj
psychosocial factors
Bernadeta Lelonek-Kuleta
and
Rafał P Bartczuk
Department of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of
Lublin, Lublin, Poland
Abstract
The goals of this study were to estimate the levels of involvement in gambling and gambling
disorders among Polish prisoners and to identify selected psychosocial factors associated
with gambling activities. The study was conducted in randomly selected penitentiaries with
therapeutic and non-therapeutic programmes. It covered 1219 male prisoners and used a
specially designed 75-item questionnaire, including South Oaks Gambling Screen. About
29.4% of prisoners had exhibited pathological gambling symptoms at some point in their
lives (based on South Oaks Gambling Screen). Pathological gamblers were characterised by:
city residence, not being educated above lower-secondary, being single, having other gam-
blers and pathological gamblers among their close friends or family and use of psychoactive
substances while gambling. Pathological gamblers were motivated by the desire to win, to
escape from problems and to experience powerful emotions. The prevalence of gambling
disorders in the prison population suggests that there is a need for systemic action to be
introduced to prevent the development of pathological gambling in penitentiaries and also
within groups at risk of criminal activity.
Keywords
Gambling, gambling motivation, gambling prevalence, prisoners
Date received: 4 June 2019; accepted: 28 October 2019
Corresponding author:
Bernadeta Lelonek-Kuleta, Department of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie
14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland.
Email: bernadetalelonek@kul.lublin.pl
232
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 53(2)
Introduction
Pathological gambling is the first behavioural addiction to be officially accepted as an
addiction (Silczuk & Habrat, 2016). The criteria for pathological gambling can be found
in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). As well as reclassifying pathological gam-
bling (which had previously been classed as an impulse-control disorder), the manual
dropped its eighth criterion for addiction which required individuals to have committed
illegal acts to obtain money for gambling. Although DSM-5 acknowledged that this was
not a necessary symptom of pathological gambling, there is evidence that criminality is
strongly correlated with gambling (Abbott, McKenna, & Giles, 2005; Brown, Killian, &
Evans, 2005; Jones, 1989; Potenza et al., 2001; Riley & Oakes, 2014; Turner, Preston,
Saunders, McAvoy, & Jain, 2009). This is reflected in a large percentage of recreational
and pathological gamblers in the prison population. Western studies indicate that
between 8% and 41% of male prisoners meet the criteria for pathological gambling
(Riley & Oakes, 2014), and up to 50% of crimes committed by pathological gamblers
can be linked to gambling (Williams, Royston, & Hagen, 2005). These are very high
proportions relative to the general population, where the proportion of pathological
gamblers can be as low as 0.7%, as in Poland (Badora, Gwiazda, Herrmann, Kalka, &
Moskalewicz, 2015). A review of the literature showed that the crimes most commonly
committed in connection with gambling are non-aggressive and intended to yield money
for gambling (Zorland, Mooss, & Perkins, 2008). The most popular crimes are cheque-
book fraud and stealing money from the workplace (Schwer, Thompson, & Nakamuro,
2003). The prevalence of gambling disorders varies by country, so the severity of this
problem in Poland cannot be inferred from studies elsewhere. The study on the issue of
gambling disorders amongst criminals in Poland is limited. So far, the only research in
this area has been into the psychological characteristics of imprisoned gamblers and the
correlations between gambling disorder and criminal activity (Pastwa-Wojciechowska,
2011). Knowledge of the extent of gambling problems amongst the prison population
could be used to inform policies to tackle the problem. There have been no previous
structured efforts in Poland to prevent gambling problems in Polish penitentiaries,
although substance addiction therapies have been provided, because substance use is
considered to be closely correlated with criminal activity (Głowik, 2008; Niewiadomska,
2007; ZajeRcka, 2008; Regulation of the Minister of Justice, 2003).
The gambling market in Poland is regulated by the Gambling Act of 19 November
2009, and several subsequent amendments. Regulations that came into force on 1 April
2017 mean that numerical lotteries and slot machines outside casinos run as a national
monopoly.
The lotteries are organised by Totalizator Sportowy (TS) – a National Treasury
private limited company. Numerical and scratch card lotteries are the most popular
form of gambling amongst adult Poles (about 50% of them played these lotteries in the
last 12 months) (Badora et al., 2015). Until 2017, transitional provisions were in force,
allowing private entities to operate gambling machines outside casinos under conces-
sions granted before 2010. Between 2010 and 2017 it was illegal to organize new gam-
bling points outside casinos. It is also worth noting that TS runs the only legal online
casino in Poland.
Lelonek-Kuleta and Bartczuk
233
Terrestrial casinos in Poland are run by private operators and can offer gambling
machines, card games (blackjack and poker) and roulette. Betting is also legal in Poland;
it is organised by bookmakers licensed by the Ministry of Finance. On 1 April 2017,
restrictions on the betting market increased because blocking of illegal domains became
possible (until 2017, 90% of betting market operated in the black market (United
Nations Global Compact, 2016)).
Changes to the legal regulations on gambling in recent years resulted in the expansion
of black market gambling. The legal and illegal markets operated in parallel and the
average player was unable to distinguish in which of them he or she was playing. This
ambiguity particularly concerned the gambling machines outside the casino, betting
companies and all forms of online gambling. Current national policy efforts aim at
regulating the market and adapting it to comply with international regulations.
The objectives of this study were to estimate the levels of gambling and gambling
disorders within the male prison population in Poland and to identify psychosocial
factors associated with gambling disorders in prisoners. An additional goal was an
explanation of the increase of the risk of gambling problems in male prisoners, based
on psychosocial variables.
Materials and methods
Data
Data were collected from 1219 adult male prisoners, 311 were serving their time in
therapeutic units and 911 in non-therapeutic units. Data from three prisoners were
rejected because some important variables were missing.
The study was conducted in 22 randomly selected therapeutic penitentiary institu-
tions and 30 non-therapeutic units from all over Poland. A Prison Service Officer select-
ed prisoners for the study (every kth unit) to find 30 participants (in non-therapeutic
units) or 15 participants (in therapeutic wards) from each unit (1230 sets were distrib-
uted). Participation was voluntary, and so the number of participants varied between
units. Data were collected using a questionnaire, which was distributed to prisoners in
groups, usually in the common room by the administrator who was not a member of the
Prison Service. Questionnaires, return envelopes and pens were distributed to respond-
ents by the administrator. Respondents returned their questionnaires in sealed envelopes
directly to the administrator.
Research tool
A specially developed 75-item questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire
was divided into five parts: I, sociodemographic data and legal classification within the
penal system; II, family and social backgrounds and history of addiction; III, level of
gambling (including South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS)); IV, links between gambling
activity and illegal acts; V, gambling in prison and open comments. The content of the
questionnaire was based on the basis of the pre-defined research goals and a review of
the literature (Bellringer et al., 2009). Since the amount of data collected was substantial,
this article only presents the results of analysis of Part III of the questionnaire.
234
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 53(2)
For the purposes of screening pathological gamblers, we used SOGS, as developed by
Lesieur and Blume (1987), as adapted for Poland in 2016 (Lelonek-Kuleta, Chwaszcz,
Bartczuk, Niewiadomska, & Nowak, 2016). The maximum possible score in the ques-
tionnaire was 20 points. A score of zero meant no symptoms of problem gambling, 1–4
points corresponded to low severity of problem gambling and 5 or more points indicated
likely pathological gambling. In the article, people with five or more points are described
as pathological gamblers. The lifetime reference period was used. Affirmative responses
to the diagnostic questions were also given by gamblers who had not gambled for more
than a year because they had been prison. We decided that, because of the specific
nature...
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