Study reveals online gambling led to *fewer* gambling problems

Sep 19, 2007, 5:17 pm (5 comments)

Online Gambling

A report released by the British government's Gambling Commission today reveals that problem gambling has not increased over the last eight years, despite widespread speculation to the contrary.

In fact, there may be fewer problems today than before gambling was legalized in Great Britain on the Internet.

The British Gambling Prevalence Survey is a large-scale nationally representative survey of participation in gambling and the prevalence of problem gambling in Great Britain.  The first British gambling prevalence survey was carried out in 1999.

This survey was commissioned to measure the Gambling Commission's success in keeping crime out of gambling, ensuring gambling is conducted fairly and openly, and protecting children and vulnerable people from harm from gambling.

In that regard, allowing people to gambling over the Internet seems to have helped.

Gambling experts, who commonly predict dire scenarios with any permissive change in gaming laws, are baffled. 

The report lays out how the Web and other new forms of gambling introduced since 1999 have not led to misery and deprivation and that, due to a drop in National Lottery sales, the percentage of the UK population regularly buying a ticket fell from 72% in 1999 to 68%.

Commission chairman Peter Dean said more than 99% of adults who gambled did so harmlessly but that there were still 250,000 problem gamblers in Britain.

The survey quizzed more than 9,000 people between September 2006 and March 2007. The Commission admits it had expected to see a rise in the number of problem gamblers due to Internet betting, but that the opposite was in fact the case.

"There are a significant number of people who do gamble online [and] we've been tracking those, but as I say the overall result is there is no increase at all in problem gambling since the last survey," Dean said.

The Gambling Commission was set up under the Gambling Act 2005 and was formally established in October 2005.

It has taken over the role previously played by the Gaming Board for Great Britain in regulating casinos, bingo, gaming machines and lotteries.

In addition, since September 2007, the Commission has had responsibility for the regulation of betting and remote gambling, as well as helping to protect children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling.  The Commission is also responsible for advising local and central government on issues related to gambling.

The Gambling Commission is a Non-Departmental Public Body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It operates at arm's length from government and its advice is independent.

All the funds used to operate the commission are levied from the gambling industry itself.

Lottery Post Staff

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mjwinsmith's avatarmjwinsmith

We need to see to it that a copy of that report be sent to the President of the United States as well as the Congress.

At the very least send a message to your rep in Washington so that he/she knows the facts on this issue, and tell them we want to be able to gamble on-line, it's our right to do so.

Todd's avatarTodd

Many people in the news media are fiercely anti-gambling, and spin this story in a variety of ways. Here's an example: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2493031.ece

They are actually making things up to try and paint the story as being bad for gambling.

joshuacloak's avatarjoshuacloak

whats bad is pushing any human none violence  desires underground/outlawed

like what they did to online gambling in states!

how much none  violence could you get, IT WAS ONLINE.

 

take drugs,crack,whatever

there so bad they say

 they had to outlaw them

,yet all they did was make  way more violence out of a thing

that had no  violence with it much at all

farms that make good stuff vs  drug networks of today

hmm, i dont know whats better!

if i have a iq of 70 maybe! Haha

media treats me like i do thro. Clown

 

there always a demand for all human desires

, to try and stop something like a human desire to effect your mood with a drug

is betting againt your own humankindness to change.

thats makes you a human being.

you seek your desires/there is  a demand.

there will be a supply!

 

pot heads may not be the best workers LMAO, but thats for the people who pay them to handle.

but there not doing violence actions!

how ever drinking makes violence happen a lot easyer,

and they ALLOW IT, the govt and news media is f***ED UP IN THE HEAD to tell me drinking is not way worse then drugs that make people chilled out

vs dumber and more violence actions

 now there doing it to online gambling, not the best thing to do in life, no,

but i had fun with online gambling before,

go go poker :)

and sporting games 

vs me going out, and likly crashing in to someone else on the  road. toa  casino they can get there share of my money.

now there just being a*****es

i swear they ban anything that makes people to happy.

HiYoSilver

Quote: Originally posted by joshuacloak on Sep 20, 2007

whats bad is pushing any human none violence  desires underground/outlawed

like what they did to online gambling in states!

how much none  violence could you get, IT WAS ONLINE.

 

take drugs,crack,whatever

there so bad they say

 they had to outlaw them

,yet all they did was make  way more violence out of a thing

that had no  violence with it much at all

farms that make good stuff vs  drug networks of today

hmm, i dont know whats better!

if i have a iq of 70 maybe! Haha

media treats me like i do thro. Clown

 

there always a demand for all human desires

, to try and stop something like a human desire to effect your mood with a drug

is betting againt your own humankindness to change.

thats makes you a human being.

you seek your desires/there is  a demand.

there will be a supply!

 

pot heads may not be the best workers LMAO, but thats for the people who pay them to handle.

but there not doing violence actions!

how ever drinking makes violence happen a lot easyer,

and they ALLOW IT, the govt and news media is f***ED UP IN THE HEAD to tell me drinking is not way worse then drugs that make people chilled out

vs dumber and more violence actions

 now there doing it to online gambling, not the best thing to do in life, no,

but i had fun with online gambling before,

go go poker :)

and sporting games 

vs me going out, and likly crashing in to someone else on the  road. toa  casino they can get there share of my money.

now there just being a*****es

i swear they ban anything that makes people to happy.

Your right, I would really prefer that you stay home and do what ever your going to do. The thought that you may be out driving scares me more than online gambling ever could.Eek

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by HiYoSilver on Sep 20, 2007

Your right, I would really prefer that you stay home and do what ever your going to do. The thought that you may be out driving scares me more than online gambling ever could.Eek

Green laugh

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