Study: Regulate online gambling
2008-07-16 19:07
Wojtek Dabrowski
Toronto - Canada and the United States
should legalise and regulate online gambling to contain its
potentially harmful effects because players tend to bet more
frequently and aggressively than they do in casinos, a study
released on Tuesday says.
The study - conducted jointly by academics of the
University of Western Ontario in Canada and the University of
Nevada at Las Vegas - found that online gambling is readily
accessible via the internet even though it is outlawed or in a
"legal grey area" in United States and Canada.
Online gambling is big business, the study said, estimating
worldwide spending at more than $10 billion a
year.
Betting online is a problem, the study says, because it has
the potential to be more addictive than casino gambling.
Online
gamblers can hide their activity more easily than casino
gamblers, and betting can quickly become a routine part of
their daily lives.
"It brings out the gamblers' more competitive side," said
June Cotte, associate professor of marketing at the University
of Western Ontario and one of the study's authors.
"When not seen as reserved solely as behaviour for an outing
or a special occasion, gambling is more likely to become a
pernicious, insidiously integrated component of a consumer's
life."
'Online gamblers bet more frequently'
As part of the study, 20 regular casino gamblers and 10
regular online gamblers were interviewed.
Pictures were used as
stimuli to find out what gambling feels like and how it is
perceived by the participants.
Results show online gamblers bet more frequently and
aggressively, the study found.
As one potential solution, the study's authors suggested
that governments encourage large corporations like those that
run the major Las Vegas casinos to enter a new, regulated
online gambling market. The major Vegas operators include MGM
Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment Inc.
Gary Thompson, a spokesperson for Harrah's, said the company
has already supported a study looking at the pros and cons of
legalising and regulating online gambling.
Depending on how the government would structure its
approach, he said Harrah's would be interested in exploring the
market opportunity.
The study also suggested government sponsors in Canada
might enter the market and regulate it with measures like more
effective age checks when signing up, setting limits on bets
and implementing mandatory "cooling-off" periods that force
gamblers to stop betting for a set amount of time.
- Reuters