Abstract: Evidence suggests that gambling venues in northern Australia, particularly casinos, play a particularly important role in the social and economic life of Aboriginal people from urban centres and remote communities alike. These venues play contradictory roles. On one hand they derive a large proportion of their revenue from economically marginalised Aboriginal gamblers (largely via slot machines), while on the other they provide one of the most socially-inclusive public spaces available to Aboriginal people. To explore this dynamic we recently conducted a cognitive mapping exercise as part of an ARC linkage grant to assess the spatial extent of the Alice Springs casino catchment. We will present the results of this exploratory study, one that revealed a vast catchment that covered most of central Australia. We subsequently draw on the sketch-mapping interviews to explain why the casino is so important to Aboriginal mobility and social life in central Australia. Specifically, we examine the ways that Aboriginal culture, race relations, consumer space, alcohol policy, and spatially-based policies of regulation combine to produce the particular configuration of the Alice Springs casino evident today. We conclude with implications for the development of spaces of inclusion, defined along racial lines, in remote Australia.

Dr Bruce Doran is a lecturer at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. His research interests relate to the social applications of GIS, particularly in the areas of (a) the social impact of commercial gambling at a community level and (b) mapping fear of crime. Much of his research has focused on integrating GIS-based techniques with interdisciplinary approaches to assist in the management and regulation of complex social problems.

Dr Martin Young is a human geographer by profession and senior lecturer at the Southern Cross University (SCU) prior to which he was head of the Gambling Research Team at CDU, Darwin. He is the immediate past editor-in-chief of the NAGS journal Gambling Research. Martin currently leads several gambling participation-related projects in the NT and nationally.