Telegraph: Online Casinos Amplify Gambling Addictions

by Elizabeth Nguyen, News Staff Writer

September 18, 2007

The UK Gambling Commission is due to release the results of its “Gambling Prevalence” study this Wednesday. This past weekend, British newspapers were abuzz with leaked details from and speculation about the report, which aimed to survey the extent to which Britons engage in gambling behaviors. The report’s details are expected to be especially interesting in regard to online casinos and online gambling in general, which is on the rise. The British government is said to be sweating over the study’s imminent release, due to unfavorable public opinion over how prime minister Gordon Brown has handled the issue of online casino gambling. With internet casinos currently a mainstay of the World Wide Web, and all signs pointing to many Britons having an unhealthy fixation with playing their luck, there is sure to be scrutiny.

Almost three-quarters of the UK population gambles in some form. This percentage encompasses lotteries and horse-racing, as well as land and online casino gambling, and thirty-three million adults. London’s Telegraph newspaper claims that the study will show that over one million Brits have a gambling addiction problem, and that this number is on the rise. The Telegraph places much of the blame for this phenomenon on online casinos, and online gambling in general. Since online betting originated and began to become popular over the last decade or so, the Telegraph says, the percentage of Brits flocking to internet casinos has spiked dramatically.

Online casinos make gambling much more enticing, the Telegraph went on to allege, because online gambling makes the process quicker, easier, and more convenient. Players don’t need to leave their homes, and can log into an online casino at any time of the day or night. But it is not just internet casinos that are anticipated to be criticized by the report: the Gordon government will likely be under tremendous pressure to vote down a land-based “super casino” that has been talked of, says the Telegraph.
 

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