The lived experience of frontline casino workers

ABSTRACTCareer-related emotional contagion has been investigated in many sectors, including healthcare and journalism. However, the gambling sector remains unexplored, despite frontline casino employees’ frequent exposure to the fluctuating emotions of gamblers, especially those who experience gambling problems. This study fills the research gap by investigating the impact of long-term exposure to gambling on frontline casino employees. The data were collected from 46 interviewees. Analysis revealed three themes: dealers’ emotional responses, ‘dirty work’, and the impact on dealers’ private lives. In the first theme, the interviewees’ responses indicated that exposure to gambling led to various emotional outcomes, including indifference, sympathy, perplexity, and worry. The second theme, ‘dirty work’, covers observations concerning organizational malpractice and negative social impacts. The various ‘impacts on dealer’s private lives’ identified in the data ranged from negative to positive. This study reveals the complexity of workplace emotional contagion and the emotional costs for frontline casino employees. The implication for gambling companies is that emotional support with – and training in – emotion management are necessary to maintain and retain a healthy workforce.KEYWORDS: Emotional contagionnegative emotionsgamblingemployee–customer encounterdirty work Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementDue to the nature of this research, the participants did not agree for their data to be shared publicly. As such, supporting data is not available.Additional informationNotes on contributorsLibo YanWongkun Manian is Lecturer in Gaming Management in the Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies at Macao Polytechnic University. Her research focuses on mental and behavioral characteristics of gamblers, including behavioral motivation, development process, cognitive process, influential factors and counseling etc. She is also interested in psychological measurement and addiction prevention for gambling susceptible and high-risk population, gambling disorder therapy and guidance for healthy behavior on gambling.Libo Yan is Associate Professor in Tourism Management in the Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies at Macao Polytechnic University. His research interests include gambling tourism, destination marketing, and visitor experience. He has published 35 papers in tourism and hospitality journals. He is on the editorial board of Tourism Review (SSCI journal). He is also Ad Hoc Reviewer for many tourism and hospitality journals, including Tourism Management and Annals of Tourism Research.Zhonglu ZengZhonglu Zeng is Professor in Gaming Management in the Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies at Macao Polytechnic University. His research interests include development strategies for the gaming industry in Macao, regional economies and micro-economies, strategic management, corporate competitive intelligence management. He has published 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals and five academic books.