Online gamblers aren’t addicts

2014-07-21

Reading time 1:37 min

(US).- A series of studies conducted by Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addiction with the cooperation of Bwin, which gave researchers access to data of players who went on various online casino games over a two-year period, has found that the vast majority of Internet gamblers aren’t addicts, and are, in fact, very casual gamblers who are quite good at setting limits for themselves.

The studies included sports betting, poker, and general casino gambling, and 95 percent or more of the gamblers studied gambled in moderation, while just one to five percent were said to exhibit “intense gambling behavior.”

Another study by the University of Hamburg, designed to help supplement the work being done at Harvard, looked exclusively at poker players. More than two million online poker players were analyzed over the course of six months. The median player was at the tables for just 4.88 hours over that period, and the majority of players were paying less than a dollar per hour in rake.

None of this is meant to say that compulsive gambling isn’t a problem, or that problem gambling doesn’t exist on the Internet. But it does suggest that the extent to which the Internet exacerbates such problems has been exaggerated. Part of the reason for this may rest in how the data is presented: researchers used medians to show what the “typical” gambler looked like, largely because a small percentage of “intense” gamblers significantly affect the average figures.
That research backs up previous numbers that have come out of surveys, such as one conducted in 2007 by regulatory body eCOGRA.

That study found that online poker players typically played two to three times a week for an average of one to two hours, and that they paid about $1.20 an hour in rake. That study also found that players only took about 6 percent of their bankroll to a table on average, meaning most players exercised reasonable bankroll management while playing.

One reason that the access provided by online gambling hasn’t caused a spike in addiction could be due to the differences between brick-and-mortar venues and their Internet counterparts. Researchers have found that a “playground” model in a casino, one that uses warm colors, moving water, and green spaces, has been most successful for encouraging people to gamble. These features cannot be included for most online gambling users – though some sites have tried to increase the casino feel through the use of live dealer games.