A Sociological Content Analysis of Gambling in Social Networks

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MSc., Department of Computer Software, ICT Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.

2 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Sociology, ICT Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.

3 MSc., Department of IT Management, ICT Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.

4 Assistant Prof., Department of Telecommunication Electrical, ICT Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.

5 MSc., Department of Electrical Communication, ICT Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Objective
Internet gambling is a form of gambling that has been developed by communication technologies and is constantly available to mobile phone users. In Iran, the amount of currency that outflows from the country through online gambling reaches $ 1.5 billion a year which is equivalent to 18% of taxes collected in the country. On the other hand, during the period of online gambling prevalence (2016-20), the society has witnessed a decline in bio-economic quality, the exchange rate shows a 700% increase, which indicates a multiplication of the power of Rial-dependent incomes. According to studies, behaviors such as investing in Pyramid companies, giving money to greedy people for high profits (Ponzi are more prevalent in society when macroeconomic structure fluctuations are more severe. Studies on behavioral economics, on the other hand, show how individuals cope with high levels of uncertainty and complexity with this cognitive bias that “can bypass cost-benefit laws”. Gambling operators prompt people to think that “shortcuts can be made to profit”. These studies assume that the “mental accounting” of individuals is not the same and is affected by different factors. In the present study, using data mining techniques in social networks, we ask: Can people who are frustrated with the change in their economic stagnation from unemployment and poverty be more prone to gambling? Given the socio-economic context, what themes do popular gambling sites in Iran use in their advertising posts to create cognitive bias?
 
Research Methodology
After collecting data from Instagram and Telegram sources (which was developed by a supervised machine learning model based on a high-precision logarithmic regression algorithm), the data were categorized in terms of textual content, and gambling posts were selected. The main categories were extracted: “Entertainment”, “Trade and commerce”, “Specialized and General content”, “Sports” and “Discourteous”. Finally, the data were analyzed sociologically, which due to the diversity in the nature of the outputs (numerical and textual) a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods has been used.
 
Findings
Findings range from September 22 to December 20. Differences between categories related to economic posts and other subject categories were compared using descriptive statistics. The average visit to publication ratio of the “Trade and commerce” group was 357%, while in the “Specialized and General content” it was 75%. It was 56% in the “Discourteous” group, 52% in the “Entertainment”, and 26.9% in the sports content group. In qualitative analysis, we tried to crystallize the abstract concepts of the theory in objective examples and achieve axial coding, which eventually led us to the final theme. Keyword analysis was performed by data immersion on hundreds of popular posts, hot topics, hashtags (Telegram and Instagram). The use of financial incentives by betting site operators in attracting audiences was coded with the main theme of economic instability. The final three themes of "financial incentive", "unemployment" and "exchange rate fluctuations" were extracted and analyzed. Also, in the directional content analysis with the main theme of behavioral economics, among the three cognitive biases, the two final themes of creating a bias of "reducing the pain of paying" and "illusion of control" were extracted and analyzed from the data explored in cyberspace.
 
Discussion & Conclusion
The study of research data shows the high significance of economy in the interest of audiences in betting. In directional content analysis, the sub-themes refer to the analysis that the audience is frustrated with the existing and conventional ways of earning money in society. The results of research on the impact of macroeconomic instability, especially large shocks in the financial markets, show that in times of severe economic shocks, the ground is prepared for fraudulent and anti-economic businesses such as gambling. Also, despite the huge profits that are made in this business which also benefit the real operators or government officials, behavioral economic factors including those under the influence of emotional arousal should also be taken into consideration. The need for cultural policy-making in informing users of cognitive biases seems very necessary.

Keywords

References

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Media Management Review
Volume 1, Issue 1
2022
Pages 78-101

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