Harvard research suggests that online gambling isn’t addictive

The impact of online gambling is much less than campaigners claim, according to new research.

It is often loudly speculated by anti-gambling campaigners that increasing access to online casinos makes problem gamblers. However, recent research released this week has suggested that there is actually no evidence that this is the case.

Research conducted by Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addiction has found no evidence that online casinos create more problem gamblers than any other form of gambling.

The research found that in a survey of 4,000 online gamblers, only a very small minority of players (1% – 5%) showed signs of intense gambling behaviour, which far exceeded the rest of the sample.

This finding is in line with the majority of all other forms of gambling activity. Furthermore, two of the authors of the survey have also describe instances of gambling addiction that have been a constant for the last thirty-five years – despite the ever-increasing accessibility to gambling through online casinos offers.

Gambling addiction is undoubtedly an issue that does affect society, but this research shows that punters are actually spending significantly less time gambling, and that they are losing significantly less money than previous periods by playing at online casinos.  This isn’t to suggest that the online casino firms wouldn’t like more players to betting with them.

But the fact is that, whatever the intentions of online casino operators, figures on gambling trends suggest that online casinos are not creating a surge in problem gamblers. Gambling addiction is an issue that has existed since the beginning of man, and mobile gambling is, in essence, insignificant in this phenomenon.

Interestingly $475 billion was lost in worldwide gambling in 2013, of which, only around 7% was lost in online casinos.

The surprisingly underwhelming revenues that have been generated by the introduction of regulated online casinos in New Jersey indicate that most people have greatly over-estimated the extent to which online casinos are addictive.

Alongside this, online casinos are more proactive than their land-based counterparts when it comes to pursuing responsible gambling policies (possibly because they are conscious of the disapproval directed towards them).

Joel Galin, from Online-Casinos-Canada.ca said, “Age verification checks, parent controls, self-exclusion policies and voluntary loss limits are all used by online casinos to help problem gamblers to restrict their losses and playing time, and to prevent under-age players from access.

“In addition, most online casinos, such as Mr Green and 888, actively promote links to organisations that assist with problem gambling.

The convenience, accessibility and, for some, the anonymity of online casinos are all undoubtedly very appealing, and the popularity of online casinos is certainly continuing to grow.

And gambling is gambling—there will always be those who lose more than they can afford.

But to lay the blame for problem gamblers solely at the door of online casinos is to miss the point.”

The research from Harvard suggests that campaigners are misguided in their attempts to get the online gambling industry regulated. Indeed, in short, this research suggests that, online casinos are no more responsible for creating problem gamblers than land based gambling outfits, despite the warnings otherwise from campaigners.