According to this article from The Wall Street Journal, the same data casinos use to track customers’ gambling habits can be used to identify gambling addicts. Casino customer-tracking information could create computerized models that can spot and warn people with high risk profiles. But what do casino operators, who extract more than half their profits from addicts, think of the idea? “I think it’s a terrible idea,” said former Caesars head Gary Loveman.
Online Gambling
Link found between problem gambling and family violence
A new study by the Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre at the University of Melbourne, Australia shows a strong link between problem gambling and familial violence. Fifty-three percent of problem gamblers reported some form of family violence in the past 12 months and Forty-four percent reported victimization in the home. These disturbing numbers show yet another effect of problem gambling, and shows further why more commercialized gambling isn’t a good thing. This HealthCanal study summarizes the study’s findings.
Problem gambling and family violence strongly linked says new study
Casinos drop big money to advertise online gambling
Online gambling was recently legalized in New Jersey. However, if you live in New Jersey, you probably already knew that considering the amount of money casinos recently spent on TV and radio ads, billboards, and Internet ads promoting online gambling and begging consumers to try it. This runs contradictory, however, to the argument casino interests used in getting online gambling legalized- that people are already gambling online anyway so why not legalize it? If people were really gambling online already, then why do casinos need to spend so much to promote it? This Newark Star-Ledger article describes the media blitz.
NJ casinos take over airwaves in online gambling marketing blitz
Release of online gambling data shows that gambling to get rich is a bad bet
Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, a major European online gambling company, released data on 4222 gamblers, and the math behind gambling win probabilities shows just how badly the odds are stacked against gamblers. Experts say these data figures are comparable to those of real casino here in the US, however casinos keep their data a heavily-guarded secret. The figures released show that statistically, the more you play, the more you’ll lose- the heaviest gamblers had only a 5.4% chance of ending in the black, compared with 17% of the customers who placed the least amount of wagers. Furthermore, the data shows that casinos and gambling operations rely mostly on problem gamblers for their revenue- 2.8% of the customers provided half of the company’s profits, and 10.7% provided 80% of revenue. This The Wall Street Journal article summarizes the findings.
2013 How Often Do Gamblers Really Win- New data provide some answers
Report shows the bias in years of casino industry-funded research
Research into gambling and casinos has been severely tainted by money from casino interests according to a new report by Goldsmiths College at the University of London. It draws on testimony from researchers who admit that they have lied, omitted data, or otherwise tampered with results of their research because it was funded by casino interests. One researcher says, “I was really scared about potentially annoying the industry and then getting my reputation trashed because I saw that happen… and it was really horrible. So I had a choice, say everything is fine. In other words, lie.” This article from The Independent details this shocking report that casts doubt on the validity of years of research.
Why adolescents are biologically more susceptible to problem gambling
This study, from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows a biological breakdown of how adolescents’ brains make them more likely to be problem gamblers. This is because the brain of an adolescent places a greater value on rewards than does that of an adult, a developmental effect that causes more adventurous risk-taking in adolescents, which can lead to problem gambling. This thorough study explains the science behind why kids shouldn’t gamble.
2014 Neural representation of expected value in the adolescent brain
Study spotlights the link between homelessness and problem gambling
Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England have found that homeless people are ten times more likely to be problem gamblers than non-homeless people. While many studies have been done examining the link between homelessness and alcohol or drug usage, this is one of the first to consider how homelessness affects one’s propensity to have a gambling addiction. This article summarizes the study’s findings.
2014 New study reveals scale of problem gambling among homeless population
Online poker popularity is on the decline
This article from the Online Casino Archives details the rapid drop in online poker players in recent months. Even as online poker has expanded to include three new states in 2014, more and more players are folding on online poker.
College students and problem gambling
This study, made for the Iowa Department of Public Health, examined the relationship between college students and problem gambling. After using both qualitative and quantitative data, the study concluded that almost 70% of college students gambled in the past year, and about one in ten met at least DSM-IV criterion for potential problem or pathological gambling, a disturbing figure that presents real concerns for America’s future. Below is a copy of the study, which is detailed and informative, and sheds light on the future of American problem gambling.
2014 Pilot Study of Gambling Attitudes and Behaviors Among Iowa College Students
The issue of dischargeability of gambling debt grows in severity
With the increasing pervasiveness of government-sponsored gambling, the issue of the dischargeability of gambling debt has become very significant. The attached report by two U.S. Trustees of Indiana highlights several major problems including how one research group suggests that about 10 percent of bankruptcy filings are linked to gambling losses, 20 percent or more of compulsive gamblers are forced to file bankruptcy because of their losses, and upwards of 90 percent of compulsive gamblers use their credit cards to gamble.
GAMBLING ON DISCHARGEABILITY: Casino debt collection practices