Overview
casino capitalism
Quick Reference
A term coined by the political economist Susan Strange, referring to the resemblance of the Western financial system to a ‘vast casino’, in which ‘the gamblers in the casino have got out of hand, almost beyond…the control of governments’ (Casino Capitalism, 1997). In such a situation, Strange contends, people experience an increased sense of uncertainty, and luck triumphs over dedication, application, and hard work. Highly commercialized forms of competitive sport can be seen as forms of casino capitalism: the supranational media moguls financing world sport; the largely unaccountable and often corrupt officials of international governing bodies of sport; the owners of football clubs for whom the team is a plaything in a larger financial empire. In sport's form of casino capitalism, the passion and the values of the fan are at the mercy of the gamblers in the casino.
