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Online Gambling, Advantage Play, Reflexivity and Virtual Ethnography

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Abstract

Ethnographic research has a long lineage within criminological inquiry with researchers utilising such approaches to shed light on the lived meanings of a host of groups who operate at the margins of conventional society. More recently, cultural criminologists have adopted immersive ethnographic techniques to research communities as diverse as ‘dumpster divers’ (Ferrell 2006), terrorists (Hamm 2002) and illegal motorbike racers (Librett 2008). Criminologists (Zaitch and Leeuw 2010; Banks 2013) have also begun to employ ethnographic techniques to examine hard-to-reach cultures that inhabit virtual environments, yet this has not been accompanied by an adequate consideration of the dilemmas that emerge throughout the research process.

Banks, J. (2013) ‘Edging Your Bets: Advantage Play, Gambling, Crime and Victimisation’ Crime, Media, Culture 9(2): 171–87.

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© 2014 James Banks

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Banks, J. (2014). Online Gambling, Advantage Play, Reflexivity and Virtual Ethnography. In: Lumsden, K., Winter, A. (eds) Reflexivity in Criminological Research. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137379405_22

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