Research shows online gambling can be
more dangerous than casino gambling
LONDON, ON,
July 15, 2008 – Believing online
gambling has the potential to become
more habitual than casino gambling, a
marketing professor with the Richard
Ivey School of Business is calling for
legalization of online gambling to allow
for better regulation and to potentially
reduce harmful effects.
"One
potential solution is to allow
legitimate corporate sponsors, like the
corporations that run the major casinos
in Las Vegas or the government sponsors
in Canada, to enter into a newly
regulated market for online gambling,"
said June Cotte, Associate Professor of
Marketing and George and Mary Turnbull
Fellow, Richard Ivey School of Business,
The University of Western Ontario. "Just
as legalized commercial gambling in
casinos allows governments to regulate
it, so, too, could the legalization of
online gambling allow for better
regulation and attempts to reduce the
growth of problem gamblers."
For the
study, "Blackjack in the Kitchen:
Understanding Online Versus Casino
Gambling," to be published in the
Journal of Consumer Research in the
winter of 2009, Cotte and colleague
Kathryn A. Latour (University of Nevada,
Las Vegas) interviewed 20 regular casino
gamblers and 10 regular online gamblers
using pictures as stimuli to learn what
gambling feels like and how it is
perceived. Results show online gamblers
gamble more frequently and aggressively.
That's
because casino gambling, which requires
travel to an outside location, is more
difficult to hide. In contrast, access
to online gambling is as easy as the
click of a computer mouse and is easily
integrated into daily home routines,
meaning more time can be spent on
gambling. In addition, online gambling
lacks social interaction so participants
are involved for the game, rather than
other aspects, which may appeal to their
competitive streak and increase the risk
of addiction.
"The
unregulated online environment results
in a more chaotic environment with no
clear social norms and rules. The
meaning of gambling changes, moving from
a shared conviviality available in the
casino to a no-holds-barred battle
online. It brings out the gamblers' more
competitive side," said Cotte. "When not
seen as reserved solely as behavior for
an outing or a special occasion,
gambling is more likely to become a
pernicious, insidiously integrated
component of a consumer’s life."
This is
particularly concerning because of the
rise in online gambling. Although online
gambling is illegal or in a legal grey
area in Canada and the U.S., except when
initiated by Canada’s provincial lottery
corporations, it is still easily
accessible through Internet companies
located offshore. According to the
study, more than $10 billion annually is
spent worldwide by consumers on online
gambling.
In
contrast, casino gambling, which is now
legal in all but two U.S. states, is
highly regulated and scrutinized. Cotte
and Latour suggest legalizing and
regulating online gambling, similar to
the way casino gambling is regulated,
may help reduce the incidences of
problem gambling. Some strategies that
could be tied into online regulations
include:
• Better
use of age checks when signing up for an
online account;
• Cross-checking new users with lists of
pathological gamblers;
• Setting financial limits on gambling
and having the site communicate to
gamblers that they are spending long
hours and a lot of money;
• Making information available about
problem gambling treatments via pop-ups
on instant messages;
• Having an online gambling counselor
available online;
• Mandatory "cooling-off periods," which
force online gamblers to stop gambling
for a pre-set amount of time before they
are allowed to wager money from their
accounts;
• Making tabulations of wins and losses
more central and larger on the screen to
increase the players’ awareness of where
they stand.
Cotte and
Latour also recommend online gambling
casinos minimize use of flashing bold
graphics to signal wins to lessen the
emotional experience for gamblers.
For more
information, please contact June Cotte
at (519) 661-3224,
jcotte@ivey.uwo.ca
About the Richard Ivey School of
Business, The University of Western
Ontario
The Richard Ivey School of Business at
The University of Western Ontario (www.ivey.ca)
offers undergraduate (HBA) and graduate
degree programs (MBA,
Executive MBA and
PhD) in addition to non-degree Executive
Development programs. Ivey has campuses
in London (Ontario),
Toronto, and Hong
Kong. Ivey recently redesigned its
curriculum to focus on
Cross-Enterprise
Leadership – a holistic issues-based
approach to management education that
meets the demands of today’s complex
global business world.
-30-
Dawn Milne,
Communications Specialist,
519-850-2536,
dmilne@ivey.ca
Mary Weil, Manager of Media and Public
Relations, 416-203-0664,
mweil@ivey.ca |
