Paper short abstract:

Spread betting is a uniquely British product which allows individuals to bet on the movements of the financial market for a small margin. This paper will explore how spread betting blurs the constructed distinction between gambling and trading.

Paper long abstract:

Despite post-financial crisis commentaries which condemn the City of London for its greed and recklessness, working as a trader remains a highly regarded position in British society. Thanks to the internet and advances in technology, a growing number of individuals can realise their ambition of trading for themselves. Spread betting, a uniquely British product which allows individuals to bet on the movements of the financial markets for a small margin has played a central role in this democratisation of trading. However, while spread betting is allowing a wider range of the British population to take part in the stock market, it is also blurring further away the distinction between gambling and trading so carefully constructed by legislation through history. Sitting uneasily at the crossroad between gambling and financial regulation, spread betting revives the forgotten episode of the bucket shop in a new light. In this paper, the case of spread betting is used to examine that the distinction between gambling and trading as two diametrically opposed forms of risk-taking is problematic. It is argued, instead, that less valued forms of risk-taking activities should be reconsidered alongside more valued ones. Using ethnographic data among casino players and spread betters in London, it is demonstrated that when individuals are taking risks, success and failure are never permanent and as such need to be constantly re-interpreted.