Online Gambling Increasing

September 15, 2008

Perhaps it is the World Series of Poker, perhaps it is all the bills out there that are looking at ways of regulating it, perhaps it is the talk surrounding Ron Paul � whatever the reason, online gambling is on the rise. More players are playing at online casinos than ever before � and the industry could not be happier.

However, not everyone is thrilled that online gambling is increasing. According to Lethbridge academic Robert Williams, if we aren�t careful we could be �triggering an avalanche of online addicts.� He says that with online gambling being so convenient, people will be able to play around the clock and this worries him.

He is also concerned that as they have a lower overhead than most land based casinos, the online casinos can pay out more. This then encourages them to play more for their shot at winning a large jackpot.

He says that people play on the free sites � and that is one of the worst things. On the free online casino sites, people play and they win � often. However, they then move to the real money sites where they aren�t nearly as successful but keep playing to try and be as successful as they were on the free sites.

This leads them to play more and more, and eventually they end up losing everything. Williams says that free online casinos are simply a �deceptive advertisement to get you to play for real where you lose money.� With the average of winners so much lower than they are on the free sites, it would seem that he was correct.

With half of North American high school students having already tried free online gambling, we are creating a generation of online gambling addicts.
 

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