Cyran said:
It depends on how you define regulation. The Online operations should defiantly be regulated. Odds should be clearly shown and not hidden. They should be require to make public actual winning percentage and the number of bets being place etc so that it easy for people to discover a pattern that out side of what you would expect base on the odds in a statically significant way. Especially when dealing with software it possible that there no intention of manipulation of the odds but a software glitch instead. There should be far greater reporting requirements on online gambling businesses then a typical private company would be required to do. Advertising should be regulated to make sure deceptive practices are not use to target vulnerable populations and all users should be require to go through a age checking process to ensure they 21 or over. They should require gambling licenses to operate just like we require for selling liquor etc. That being said I do support it being legal and there been studies done in countries that have online gambling that have shown it not to have the negative impact that a lot of people suspect it would have when it come to addiction. https://www.realmoneyaction.com/harvard-study-online-gambling-isnt-addictive/ |
That's posted by an organization whose purpose is to encourage gambling, so gotta take that with a grain of salt. The studies they cite seem to be from reputable institutions, but I'd like to see the full studies, because data can be cherry picked.
The studies seem to indicate that online gaming itself is not more addictive than something such as casino gaming, which seems pretty logical. Being able to control the entire environment would definitely be an advantage in getting people to gamble. So, that's a good point as to why online gaming might not lead to major problems.
But the question is in scale. The study found 1-5% of people did in fact gamble "excessively". That's a fairly significant portion and unlike those who gamble excessively at casinos, but unlike the casino goers, there's little to stand in the way of excessive gambling.
The study they quote to address that issue user Pokerstars as an example, but I think Poker is not a great comparison. Poker is a game where you play against other players, and success is largely skill based. Because of this, it naturally limits the amount that people who are not good at poker are going to play. If you perceive your loss as simply bad luck and next time you might have good luck, then you're more likely to keep playing, compared to if you you view your loss as a result of other players being better than you, and you're probably going to lose in the future as well.
Of course, it's possible that online gaming isn't a major issue and there's no justification for any extreme regulation, but those studies don't convince me.
