Dr. Jim Cosgrave gave a fascinating public lecture on "Gambling, the State, and the Global Casino" to a crowd gathered at the Trent Oshawa Speakers' Series on March 28.

The audience included a substantial gathering of undergraduates and faculty of Trent University Oshawa as well as a variety of members of the public. Among the latter attendees were prospective students who had heard Professor Cosgrave's sample lecture at the recent Open House. 

Prof. Cosgrave is author of several books on the sociology of gambling. He discussed the links between Neo-liberalism and the upsurge in state-sanctioned gambling. His animated lecture included excerpts from recent newspapers and discussed the Las Vegas-style casino gambling that has emerged in this province and across the country in the past few decades.

While not advocating prohibition, Prof. Cosgrave stressed the inherent conflict of interest in governments regulating casinos from which they derive significant sources of revenue. The talk touched on the negative effects of gambling and the ways in which newer technologies exacerbate these effects.

His observation that stock-market trading itself is a form of gambling, and that the North American move away from manufacturing toward financialization has only short-term goals in mind, sparked a lively discussion.

This talk was the fourth in the new public lecture series in Oshawa, following presentations by Dr. Mohmin Rahmin, Dr. Stephen Franklin, and Dr. Robert Wright.

Posted on Friday, March 30, 2012.