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We expend much effort to reduce or avoid risks in our lives. So why are we so fond of gambling? Anthropologist Dr Rebecca Cassidy will introduce some of the myriad explanations for our appetite for risk from Freud to neuroscience, but suggest that finding answers requires an understanding of the context in which gambling takes place.

She’ll suggest that some of the social meanings attributed to games, chance, risk and luck are connected with specific notions of morality, justice and equity, using examples from Britain and elsewhere. As always, there will be plenty of opportunity for everyone to get actively involved in exploring the issues.

Rebecca Cassidy is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths University and is the author of two books about the culture of horseracing in Britain.