Debate on Internet gambling heats up
Internet gambling is an activity that is growing more and more popular with each passing day. More recently, online gambling has just become the focus of at least five bills circulating through Congress. Arguments against legalization of online gambling are based mainly on web gambling’s potential to be more addictive than gambling in a casino.
Researchers at UNLV and the University of Western Ontario released a new study which suggests that online casinos can be harsher environments than the bricks-and-mortar casinos frequented by Las Vegas inhabitants. The study is based on 90-minute interviews with 30 Las Vegas gamblers and researchers focused on a negative aspect of online gambling which has been ignored in the political discourse: web gambling can be a negative environment where foul-mouthed players bully and harass their online opponents, mainly in gambling chat rooms.
One of the participants, Donna (last names were withheld by researchers to protect their identities) reported being harassed while gambling online, including by one player who even stalked her by phone. She said she learned to ignore the live chats that accompany online games but still gambled only when her husband was sitting nearby to “protect” her.
“When I clicked off (a poker game), I was crying,” Donna told researchers. “I let a complete stranger who was online, who didn’t know me, I didn’t know him, hurt me. If it was in person, it would be different.”
Other online gamblers told researchers they were often called derogatory names in the accompanying chat area after winning a poker hand.
“Losing money can inspire bad behavior online, but bullies also abound in bricks-and-mortar casinos,” said Steven McLoughlin, a volunteer online moderator for Two Plus Two, a Las Vegas gambling book publisher that runs a gambling discussion forum attracting some 18,000 posts daily.
Casino gamblers in the study stated they felt more comfortable being around other people, seeing familiar faces and interacting, though superficially, with employees. Some of them preferred visiting casinos because they offered an escape with stimulating surroundings.
“Sometimes the floor people will come up and touch me, or ask how you (are) doing, put their hand on my shoulders, rub my shoulders for good luck … it makes me feel good,” said Lorraine, a casino gambler.
Online gambler Cleo acknowledged to researchers having an addiction problem. According to her own sayings, she chased her losses shortly after claiming to feel more in control of her gambling: “I took five times what I’d (initially) lost and lost it … It depressed me.”
Coalition Chairman Dr. Guy Clark stated that banning Internet gambling makes more sense than regulation because bricks-and-mortar casinos aren’t able of keeping kids from hanging around casinos and can not restrict gambling addicts’ access.
“What (prohibitionists) are basically saying is that ‘We want the status quo’ when the status quo is that millions of people are gambling online, without any regulations to protect consumers,” added Michael Waxman, a spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative.
Kathryn LaTour, co-author and UNLV associate professor, has conducted several studies on consumers’ motivations and supports regulation. But she seems to be more interested in exploring the range of experiences reported by gamblers in Las Vegas, a town where gambling is a fact of life.
“It’s interesting that we have all these options for gambling in Las Vegas, but these people really prefer being in their pajamas and sitting at their home computers,” she said.