It has long been established that gambling is profoundly gendered; men gamble more and spend more money gambling than women, preferring games of strategy to those of chance. Despite this, qualitative research focusing on masculine positions and gambling is scarce, as is research on gambling as a cultural, rather than e.g. a medical, phenomenon. Gambling advertising usually draws heavily on gendered stereotypes, including portrayals of male gamblers as tough and successful. Meanwhile, representations of men in advertising have grown increasingly diverse, with emotional and sexualized men accompanying heroic, muscular portrayals. 

In this paper, both these bodies of research are drawn upon to discuss a series of Swedish sports betting commercials which encourage the viewer to “bet hard” while also “being soft”. The celebration of “softness” is ambiguous but can be seen as referencing gender political discussions about men and masculinity. Engaging with hybrid masculinities theory, postfeminism, and discourses about gambling and betting, the paper demonstrates that meanings around “softness” are ambiguous, ironic, and serve to normalise gambling by distancing it from discourses about addiction. The commercials represent a shift in gambling advertising, but the linking of men’s politics to gambling also represents a new complexity in narratives about “new”, or “soft”, men.