Online Gambling From a Different Point of View

Warnings used to be issued by the US government about other types of casino gambling. But experience has shown that almost everyone is able to avoid these perils, either by wagering in moderation or by abstaining altogether.

A study by Harvard Medical School found that only 1.6 % of adults are likely to develop a gambling compulsion, making gambling far less addictive than drugs, cigarettes or alcohol.

The bulk of the evidence indicates that legalizing casinos doesn't cause crime. You can go bankrupt by making bad bets at the roulette wheel or the racetrack, but you can also attain poverty by speculating in stocks or real estate.

Are gamblers more likely to self-destruct from the home office than at Caesars Palace, surrounded by high rollers, alluring hostesses and dazzling decor? Not likely. As Chapman University law professor Tom Bell has noted, critics of casinos "fault them for luring consumers into windowless caverns far from the real world, with gambling traps at every turn and free-flowing booze." You would think those critics would welcome an option that lets people bet without venturing into dens of vice.

As for a house-losing mouse click, not many people have credit-card limits high enough to permit it, even if they were so reckless. Most Americans who gamble keep their wagers within the limits of affordability. Being able to play poker online is not going to suddenly drive them insane with greed.

The casino industry argues that it's wiser to place Internet betting under government supervision than to drive it underground where consumers have little protection. David Carruthers, before his arrest, took pride in policies his company had implemented to bar minors and compulsive gamblers, and said regulation would strengthen those controls.

MGM Mirage opened an offshore gambling operation "to prove that online casino gaming could be implemented with the same high standards of regulatory integrity as land-based operations," and says it succeeded "in demonstrating a working model that provided the proper checks for jurisdictional control, age verification and the necessary security and responsible gaming measures."

Though these claims can't be taken on faith, they show the industry is open to coupling online access with measures designed to prevent abuses. The House, however, insists the only protection is prohibition.

July 23, 2006
Posted By Larry Rutherford
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com    Previous Page | Internet Gambling | Top Online Casinos | Submit News!