Through scientific research, Dr. Sally Gainsbury of Australia’s Southern Cross University has concluded that “internet gambling does not cause gambling problems in, and of, itself.” This is in stark contrast to the position held by Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas Sands owner who’s waging a personal war against online poker and casino games. The Adelson-funded Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG) preaches that iGaming will lead to widespread addiction and is gambling’s “crack cocaine” – although CSIG has yet to produce a single legitimate piece of research that backs these claims up. Dr. Gainsbury has produced legitimate research, though, which you can read more about below.
Problem Gamblers play both Live and Online Casino Games
Through her paper entitled “Online Gambling Addiction: The relationship between Internet gambling and disordered gambling,” Gainsbury takes a hard look at iGaming, which, due to its convenience, has raised concerns that it could cause major addiction. These fears are partially backed up by one Australian study that concludes 2.7% of online players are problem gamblers, as opposed to 0.9% of land-based gamblers. However, she could not find any evidence to support the theory that iGaming, in itself, starts problem gambling.
“For example, even though Internet gamblers were more likely to be classified as being at-risk or experiencing gambling problems in a nationally representative survey when other variables were controlled for,” Gainsbury writes, “Internet gambling participation was not predictive of problem gambling severity.”
She concludes that online players are less at risk for problem gambling than those who only play at land-based casinos. But it is those who play both land-based and online casino games who are at the greatest risk of developing a gambling problem. Gainsbury sums up the reason why iGaming has higher problem gambling stats by writing, “Studies have found that one-third to one-half of Internet gamblers experiencing gambling problems attribute these to land-based forms of gambling, and over half report that they had existing problems before they ever gambled online.”
Another Good Piece of Research for Governments
Proponents of iGaming, like the CSIG, often tout the argument that online poker and casino games are more likely to start addiction. However, as Gainsbury’s findings indicate, there is no reason to believe that this is the case. She writes, “The findings presented here are important for policy makers due to evidence that Internet gambling in itself is not harmful.”
Gainsbury does warn that as “Internet gambling continues to evolve and participation increases,” there could be potential for more problems. But for the time being, it appears more likely that live gambling starts addiction, and online gaming is added to the mix later.
From an overall perspective, Dr. Gainsbury’s work is another body of research that blasts the stereotype of online gaming bringing about the downfall of society. She does warn that in later years, iGaming could be a larger problem. But for now, there’s no reason to believe that iGaming is any worse than land-based casinos.