A perceção dos residentes dos impactes dos casinos: o caso de Espinho

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the resident’s perceptions of casino impacts and to identify the factors that influence these perceptions. In order to accomplish this objective, a resident survey was undertaken in the Espinho municipality, in 2010, resulting in 222 residents interviewed. The results obtained reveal that, globally, the Espinho’s residents consider that the casino has positive impacts, mainly in economic terms, but they are, also, paying attention to the social and cultural costs. It was also showed that the residents’ perceptions of casino impacts change according to residents’s sociodemographic profile and with the knowledge and economic dependence from the casino. The paper ends with some recommendations for the the development of tourism destinations with gambling structures.