Paper short abstract:

This papers explores the everyday gambling practices in Nova Gorica - a town on the Italo-Slovenian border that used to be the dividing line between the West and the East. It is concerned with the historical/temporal as much as the spatial embeddedness of the gambling industry that thrives and is made possible by various kinds of border-makings.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the development of the Slovenian gambling industry since the 1980s and how it has shaped the country's national identity. In the last 30 years, Slovenian casinos have earned a reputation of being among Europe's finest. Yet it is not only casinos that attract guests, but also 'the country's unspoilt surroundings'. I look at how these distinguishing features of Slovenian casinos construct both the national and local identity, specifically against the neighbouring Italians.

The spatial and national(ist) border between, on the Slovenian side, Nova Gorica and, on the Italian, Gorizia, has created the dynamics sustaining the economic development of both towns. During socialism, the Italians profited from the influx of Yugoslav shoppers whereas today the Slovenians are reaping benefits from the burgeoning gambling industry which attracts mostly Italian customers.

My main questions concern the social life of the border itself. Seeing it as a living and ever-changing entity, I explore how porous it is in either uniting or separating: what/who is allowed to cross over and what/who is forbidden. Although today the border between the Italian Gorizia and the Slovenian Nova Gorica has lost the political significance it used to have, the differing national legislations regarding gambling supports the influx of the Italian money into Slovenia. In a sense the border has both disappeared and widened. It has widened through identity-making processes that distinguish 'the unspoilt Slovenia' from 'polluted Italian problem gamblers' and it has disappeared in order to allow the flow of gamblers' money.