Home / Poker News July 2008 / Online gambling regulation effort gathers momentum with independent study
Online gambling regulation effort gathers momentum with independent study
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2008-07-27 17:37
The effort to have the UIGEA repealed and have it replaced by a bill which would establish guidelines for the regulation of online gambling and poker, has gained new support from an (according to some) “unexpected” source: an independent study conducted by two University professors, June Cotte of the University of Western Ontario in Canada and Kathryn LaTour from the University of Nevada.
Why anyone involved in the online gambling and poker business would find the results and the conclusion of such a study “unexpected” is beyond me. Let’s not cut ahead of ourselves though and see what the study was about so that the reader can draw his/her on conclusions.
The aforementioned two professors took part in a study aimed at highlighting the differences between online and live gambling and the levels of danger they represented for participants. After having questioned 20 live casino players and 10 online gamblers, the study arrived to the conclusion that online gambling was far more addictive mainly because of the easy access and the anonymity involved, and its possible effects on problem gamblers were potentially much worse than those of live gambling. This find apparently surprised the research team who quickly found themselves the advocates of full legalization and regulation of online gambling in order to prevent and/or limit its harmful effects on gamblers involved. They admitted that they would never have considered calling for the legalization of online gambling before the study.
The fact that the two professors were not in any way involved with gambling explains why they considered their finds “unexpected”. It’s been quite while now that several online poker and gambling authors have been calling for the regulation of industry on those very bases that the study highlighted.
The two were also surprised by the volume of funds involved in online gambling, as well as by the possibility of turning online gambling into a solid revenue stream for the federal budget.
Besides drawing its conclusion, the study also makes recommendations as to how safety features could be implemented (the introduction of a cool-down period for those who pass a given threshold of losses over a given time-period, strict age checking, pop up messages warning users etc.)
