Online gambling is the biggest thing to hit the gaming market is decades. It has changed the way punters wager and the way gaming firms operate. While online gambling has changed the industry for the better, the belief has always prevailed that digital betting is more addictive than any other form. However, a few study by researchers at Harvard refutes this belief.
According to The Atlantic, a research team at Harvard carried out a study that tested whether online gambling is actually more addictive than gambling in land-based casinos. The study consisted of examining over 4000 players, and getting to know their habits in the online and brick-and-mortar markets.
The research team also partnered with online gaming firm bwin, collecting data from the site’s thousands of online poker and online casino players. There were three major categories: sports bettors, poker players and online casino players. In each group, the majority of players only wagered moderately. They gambled infrequently and did not exhibit signs of gambling addiction.
Between 1% and 5% of players in each group exhibited intense gambling behaviour that could be seen as addictive. For the online gambling group, the median betting frequency was once every two weeks over the course of nine months. The median outcome was a loss of 5.5% of the money that they had wagered. In the online sports betting group, the median wager was $5.50 about twice a week.
"Overall findings contradict the speculation that online gambling is a public health hazard because of internet gambling's easier access and structural characteristics (e.g., speed of play) compared with traditional forms of gaming," reads a white paper on the study. These results are encouraging ,as they dispel the myth that online gambling is more addictive than other forms.
Players, operators and industry experts can rest assured that online casinos and online poker will cause an increase in problem gambling rates.
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