| Author: | Luo, Jiaqi |
| Title: | Residents' perceptions of non-casino gaming in urban communities : a comparative study between Hong Kong and Guangzhou |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Subject: | Gambling -- China -- Hong Kong -- Public opinion. Gambling -- China -- Guangzhou -- Public opinion. Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | School of Hotel and Tourism Management |
| Pages: | xviii, 415 pages ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Non-casino gaming (e.g., horse racing, Mark six lotteries, football betting, Sports Lottery, Welfare Lottery) has grown considerably in Hong Kong and Guangzhou in recent years. Residents are the primary participants of non-casino gaming, but the industry also serves as a tourist attraction. By conducting empirical surveys in Hong Kong SAR and Guangzhou, this study aims to examine residents' perceptions of the impacts of non-casino gaming on urban communities. Additionally, it compares community perceptions of non-casino gaming in two different jurisdictions. More specifically, the objectives of this study are as follows: 1) to understand residents' overall attitudes about non-casino gaming in their communities and the major perceived positive and negative influences; 2) to examine the underlying dimensions of residents' perceptions about non-casino gaming in Hong Kong and Guangzhou; 3) to compare the similarities and differences in residents' perceptions between the two regions; and 4) to develop an analytic framework to describe and explain the causality of factors affecting residents' attitudes. A literature review and interviews are conducted to develop measurement items. The researcher used surveys mainly to collect data for this study, and subsequently analyzed these data through structural equation modelling. Pilot tests were conducted with 159 respondents in Hong Kong and 191 respondents in Guangzhou prior to the main survey, which yielded 626 questionnaires in Hong Kong and 694 questionnaires in Guangzhou. Research findings were as follows. First, generally speaking, residents held conservative attitudes toward non-casino gaming. Hong Kong respondents showed lower support level than their Guangzhou counterparts did. In Hong Kong, the group most supportive of non-casino gaming had the following characteristics: male, middle-aged or older, married, and had completed the tertiary education, whereas the individuals who were most supportive in Guangzhou were middle-aged, married, and with comparatively lower-educational levels. Second, residents' support level of non-casino gaming was determined by perceived positive impacts, perceived negative impacts, power, gaming behavior, and community attachment. The perceived positive impacts included measures that fell into social domains such as availability of entertainment and recreation, social opportunities, public infrastructure improvements, increased attractiveness of a city, and educational funding brought by gaming. Furthermore, the perceptions of negative impacts in Hong Kong included environmental indicators, such as noise level, quantity of litter, decrease of cleanliness of the community, and traffic congestion. Perceived negative impacts of Guangzhou consisted of references to social indicators such as increase of loan sharking, crime, and gambling addicts. Third, perceived positive impacts was the most important factor influencing support level for both cities. Perceived negative impacts, although negatively related to support level in Hong Kong, had no significant effects on support level in Guangzhou. Residents who perceived themselves as having greater power also felt stronger positive and negative impacts simultaneously, and consequently they were supportive of further development. Gaming behavior predicted residents' perceived impacts and their levels of support. There are direct positive relationships between residents' community attachment and perceived positive impacts, in which community attachment is positively related to support level in Hong Kong and negatively related to perceived negative effects in Guangzhou. Theoretically speaking, this study explored residents’ perceptions of the Chinese gaming industry by developing gaming-impact assessment models in non-casino gaming contexts in multiple study sites. It serves as an extension of the existing research and presents essential findings verifying the effects of power, community attachment, and gaming behavior on the social exchange model. From a practical perspective, the research findings may benefit the governments of both Hong Kong and mainland China in various aspects of gaming planning and strategizing. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b27629740.pdf | For All Users | 4.16 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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