Exploring views among Norwegian Sámi regarding gambling and gambling treatment

Aim: To explore gambling in the indigenous S & aacute;mi culture by studying thoughts, ideas and attitudes towards gambling among S & aacute;mi and people living in majority S & aacute;mi areas with knowledge of the culture. Methods: The topic was investigated in an inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 14 people (n = 13 self-reported S & aacute;mi ethnicity). Results: The majority of the informants knew of superstitious practices that were specific to the S & aacute;mi culture, though most did not believe that these could influence gambling outcomes. Several features of the S & aacute;mi culture, including religious commitment (Laestadianism), family-oriented societies, non-materialistic ideals and self-sufficiency ideals, were presumed to protect against developing gambling issues. There were reports of reduced trust in the Norwegian healthcare system and a lack of treatment services with sufficient knowledge about S & aacute;mi culture. Conclusion: Culture-specific factors protecting against development of gambling problems could be a factor in maintaining established gambling problems by increasing associated shame and stigma, resulting in a higher threshold for help-seeking among S & aacute;mi. The findings and their potential implications with regards to the existing literature are discussed.