Formalizing the gambling market: what are the interaction strategies between the gambling companies and their clients ?

Abstract

As we reach the close of the century, gaining has become something of a real society phenomenon. Indeed, a study published in France in 1995 by P.M.U. and Française des Jeux shows that 65% of French people gamble in one way or another, i.e. virtually three out of every four French man and woman aged over 18. In 1993, companies operating in the gaming sector of the economy turned over more than 70 billion French francs. So, on the one hand, we have a veritable mass phenomenon with, in France alone, several tens of millions of people who gamble and, on the other, gaming companies that do very well for themselves, in some cases going from strength to strength over the years. While there is no lack of studies by historians, sociologists and economists on the gaming sector, the situation is quite otherwise when it comes to marketing. Indeed, this area, the interface between the theoretical work on customer behaviour on the one hand and the marketing of tertiary activities on the other, has long remained in the shadows. With the exception of a few rare works, which we shall be looking at later on, developments have not been commensurate with the economic impact of gaming in our western societies. The lack of studies in this domain by marketing researchers and customer behaviourists is due undoubtedly to both the lack of social demand in this respect and the difficulty of conducting field research work in a highly taboo area, be it on the part of the gamblers or the gaming companies themselves. The objective we have set ourselves for the present research is to move the gaming universe out of the shadows of a little known area; we aim to do so in particular by seeking to formalise part of the gaming market and by highlighting the nature of the relations that are established between a gaming company and its customers.