No money, no alternatives
By: Ricardo Acuña Martín
Tags: Madrid, Gambling, Data Journalism, Data

No money, no alternatives

Photo: El Confidencial

Walking along Marcelo Usera, the main street of the poorest district in Madrid (Usera), one feels surrounded by a genuine outdoor casino. The eye-catching neon signs dress the entrances of the numerous gambling establishments located one after the other. Four in less than 300 metres. This scene pictures the “gambling establishments plague” that has recently occurred in Madrid. According to the report Gambling in the region of Madrid 2019, the number of gambling spots has gone from 437 to 678 in three years, an increase of 55%. The same report reflects how Madrid citizens gamble more every year (+ €100m since 2016), rocketing the gross revenue of the gambling industry (+25,6%).

However, the “gambling establishments plague” has not hit every district with the same intensity. Under the motto “get the gambling saloons out of our neighbourhoods”, several neighbourhood associations have condemned the unequal distribution of this kind of establishments in the city and their disproportionate concentration in the most disfavoured areas.

Money matters

The unequal distribution of gambling establishments in Madrid responds to the logic of the market. Gambling companies open their saloons where their target market is and they are aware that people with a medium-low socioeconomic status are the ones gambling the most. People with few resources might see gambling as an easy solution to their difficult situation.

This reality is reflected in Madrid. According to the per capita income data provided by the National Institute of Statistics, the four poorest districts of Madrid (Usera, Puente de Vallecas, Villaverde, Carabanchel) gather almost 35% of the establishments with gambling licence, while the four richest ones (Chamartín, Salamanca, Chamberí, Moncloa) concentrate less than 14% of them. Carabanchel is a clarifying example: while the per capita income there is more than 5.300€ lower than average, the number of gambling establishments (54) almost triples the mean of the city (20).

The unemployment rate and the number of social services interventions per district present an even stronger correlation with the amount of gambling establishments. Three of the four districts with the higher unemployment rate (Puente de Vallecas, Usera, Carabanchel) are also three of the four districts with the higher number of betting spots. Carabanchel is not only the leading district in the gambling saloons ranking but also the top area when it comes to social services interventions per year. If the figure of gambling establishments almost triples the mean of the city, the amount of social services interventions (9651) doubles it . However, this southern district of Madrid is not unique. 6 of the 7 districts that surpass the average amount of interventions also overcome the average number of gambling spots.

As it can be seen in the figure below educational attainment also plays a role. The districts with a higher proportion of population that have not completed compulsory education and a lower percentage of population with higher education are the ones gathering the bigger amount of gambling establishments.

The product offered by the gambling industry is an addictive one and its higher presence in the most disadvantaged areas deteriorates an already difficult environment characterised by low salaries and unemployment A clinical study by the General Direction of Gambling in 2017 showed that three out of four pathological gamblers have a low or medium-low socioeconomic status.

Gambling because there is not much else to do

“Gambling disorders have a lot to do with the lack of leisure alternatives that we have in this country. One goes to a betting shop not just for gambling. One goes there to watch the Real Madrid game for free while drinking a beer for 0,50 euros”. This reflection by a 20 year old man became viral in 2019. It highlighted one fact commonly ignored when analysing the unequal distribution of gambling saloons: the lack of leisure alternatives.

Since the 90’s several scholars have explained how certain people react against boredom by seeking arousal through risky behaviors such as gambling that can turn into addiction problems. Increasing the number of leisure alternatives and adapting them to the population interests are one of the solutions.

However, the leisure offer in some areas of Madrid is far from ideal. Districts gathering the majority of the gambling establishments in Madrid are not only the most disadvantaged in socioeconomic terms but also the ones that, in comparison, offer the least leisure alternatives to gambling.

Leisure options in Madrid are heavily concentrated in the city centre but the data from the Madrid City Council containing the location of sport centres, theatres, cinemas, concert venues, museums, libraries and cultural centres also reveals that in some districts, the alternative leisure facilities are not enough to counter the disproportionate amount of gambling spots. In the five leading districts in number of gambling saloons, this type of establishments double and in some cases almost triple the number of leisure alternatives.

The lack of leisure alternatives is not just a problem related to the amount of leisure facilities but also about the number of events happening there. The leisure and cultural events in the next 100 days registered by the Madrid City Council reveals how the districts with a high concentration of gambling establishments generally count with few of these events. Puente de Vallecas (43 gambling establishments) will only celebrate 9 events in the next 100 days. On the other hand, citizens living in the district of Retiro (9 gambling establishments) will have the chance to enjoy 61 events during the same period.

The pattern seems clear: the districts with the higher number of gambling establishments are usually not just the ones with the most difficult socioeconomic situation but also the ones that offer less leisure alternatives. Gambling against boredom is becoming a common practice in areas in which the impressive proliferation of gambling establishments along with a complex socioeconomic environment are creating the perfect scenario for the worrying increase of the number of pathological gamblers that Madrid and Spain are witnessing these days.

Link to the GitHub repository containing all the datasets used for the story as well as a Jupyter Notebook describing every step in the analysis.