Online gambling opponents like casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson claim that the legalization of the industry has the potential to turn everyday people into gambling addicts. But, like many other of his exaggerated predictions, he offers little hard evidence to back up those assertions. A recent study conducted by an addiction expert, however, reveals that online gambling does not create more problem gamblers in and of itself. Additionally, most addicts already had problems at live casinos before playing online.

The research was conducted by PhD Sally M Gainsbury, a lecturer at the Centre for Gambling Education and Research at Southern Cross University in Australia, with the goal of providing an overview of existing online gambling studies and highlighting new and interesting findings.

She noted that “despite rates of internet gambling increasing in several jurisdictions, little evidence has been found to suggest that the prevalence of problem gambling has increased.” In fact, a previous study across 30 European jurisdictions found that there was no association between problem gambling rates and laws prohibiting internet gambling, opportunities to gamble, and licensing structures.

Focusing on the impact of land-based casino gambling versus internet gambling, Gainsbury highlighted evidence that suggests that online gambling is not “predictive of gambling problems”and that users who play online might have lower rates of gambling problems than live players.

“Studies that have isolated internet-only gamblers have found that these gamblers have lower rates of gambling problems than gamblers who only gamble offline and those who use both online and offline mode,” she reported.

In fact, she found that more than half of participants in a relevant study admitted to already having a gambling problem in land-based casinos before going online. One study concluded that problem gamblers prefer betting in casinos over playing online.

Of course, just like any other industry, users can abuse the service and find themselves spending more than they had originally planned. One study reported that 19% to 20% of online gamblers who use e-wallets and online banking had a tendency to wager more than offline players. But, the same research concluded that only 15% of gamblers felt that online was more addictive than gambling at a land-based casino.

Adelson believes that online gambling would put young, poverty-stricken, and elderly members of society at risk of becoming gambling addicts. Multiple Swedish studies, however, found that there is no association between internet gambling and those with “low social support, psychological problems, physical problems, or health problems such as risky alcohol consumption.”

On the other hand, an Australian study reported that “at risk” offline gamblers were more likely to report having health and psychological problems than internet players. In addition, internet gamblers were less likely to drink alcohol and smoke while playing online as opposed to when playing at a live casino.

In stark contrast to Adelson and his Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling’s claims that you “can’t know your customer,” Gainsbury highlighted a variety of tools that can be used to identify and help problem gamblers. “The internet offers a potentially strong environment for the provision of responsible gambling, including player-focused tools and resources for moderating play such as expenditure tracking, self-set spend limits, time-outs, and information,” she said.

“Furthermore, operators can enact strategies to assist customers including targeted notifications (e.g., pop-up messages) based on patterns of play and other tailored contacts derived from analysis of player accounts to identify risky behavior,” she added.

While research suggests that availability of online gambling does not increase rates of addiction, it’s unlikely that those against the industry will bother to read the report. So far, they have brushed off all evidence that i-gaming can be implemented and regulated successfully.

Read the study.

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