Disempowering Technologies: Innovation, Interests and Impact of Mobile Gambling

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have brought significant development benefits to communities around the world through, for example, the use of mobile phones for money transfers. The assumption of a 'technological fix' has also been significantly criticised. However, much less attention has been paid to the potentially negative aspects of ICTs, and the complexity of technological consequences that can see harmful outcomes emerge from innovations intended to support development. Gambling companies have overwhelmingly benefited from innovation in ICTs: mobile technology has enhanced the accessibility of gambling, moving it beyond physical casinos and into all realms of personal life. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile telephony brought great development promise a decade ago, the industry has expanded dramatically in recent years. In Kenya, one of the most developed African markets, around two million people use mobile gambling products and a recent study found that digital betting was the second most occurring transaction amongst the young, urban population. This industry was made possible by mobile money brands like M-Pesa, one of the most publicised development interventions of the digital age, which promised to help alleviate poverty through financial inclusion by providing low cost remittances, money storage and payments. Today, there is evidence that some Kenyans are overborrowing mobile credit to gamble, resulting in hardship and in some cases, financial exclusion. 'Disempowering Technologies' seeks to unpack the common and contrasting interests at play in the mobile gambling industry in Nairobi, Kenya. Using actor-network theory, this research takes an interpretivist approach and aims to track and map interests by "following the actors" involved in the creation and diffusion of mobile gambling apps, as well as researching the motivations of the end users. The project will conduct primary research in Nairobi with three broad categories of stakeholder - customers, companies and commentators - in order to better understand the vested interests driving use and to examine the negative effects at the personal, household, and community level. The overarching objective is to find out how the wellbeing and agency of vulnerable users can be protected and enhanced through institutional, corporate and technological interventions. In mapping the complex socio-technical system emerging around innovations in mobile technology and gambling apps in Nairobi, the research contributes to our understanding of the paradoxical effects of ICTs in societies and their implications for development, exploring the complexity of the 'dark side' of ICT4D