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Examining Gambling-Related Crime Reports in the National Finnish Police Register

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the connection between gambling and criminal activity in the National Finnish Police Register. First, a method was created that enabled the search for gambling-related police reports in the National Finnish Police Register. The method is based on finding gambling-related police reports by using gambling-related headwords. Second, all police reports from 2011 that included any mention of gambling were read through (n = 2,233). Suspected gambling-related of crimes (n = 737) were selected from these reports. Those suspected gambling-related crimes were then described and categorized into six different categories: suspected online-related crimes; suspected crimes that were related to lifestyle-gaming; suspected crimes that involved a gambler as a victim of a crime; criminal activity related to problem gambling; casino-connected crimes, and intimate partnership violence resulting from gambling problems. This study, being the first in Finland, generated information on the connection between gambling and criminal activity from the perspective of police reports. Moreover, the study highlights methodological issues that are involved in studying police reports.

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Acknowledgments

The article has been funded by The Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. Authors do not have a financial relationship with the organization that sponsored the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Police College of Finland, P.O. Box 123, 33721, Tampere, Finland

    Sanna-Mari Kuoppamäki, Juha Kääriäinen & Kalle Lind

Authors
  1. Sanna-Mari Kuoppamäki
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  2. Juha Kääriäinen
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  3. Kalle Lind
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanna-Mari Kuoppamäki.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 6.

Table 6 Suspected victims in gambling-related police reports in Finland 2011
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Kuoppamäki, SM., Kääriäinen, J. & Lind, K. Examining Gambling-Related Crime Reports in the National Finnish Police Register. J Gambl Stud 30, 967–983 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-013-9393-6

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