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The first independent gambling guide to the best online
casinos!
Online casinos operate in lawless and
dangerous environment, according to new study
A new report published
in the United Kingdom paints a picture of the online casinos industry as
a lawless industry that is easily accessible twenty four hours a day and
seven days a week without stepping out of the house, thus leading
gamblers to become addicted to online casinos and creating large debts
born out of online casinos.
A recent study on online casinos and other gambling published in Britain
suggested almost three quarters of the population engage in some form of
gambling at some point during the year, handing the gaming industry an
annual turnover of 53 billion pounds. The online casinos have seen the
largest growth worldwide in recent years, and in Britain it is no
different.
The biggest growth area in the United Kingdom in gambling is online
casinos, through the Internet's estimated 2,300 online casinos, which
generate around $12 billion (6.3 billion pounds) a year. Are consumers
addicted to online casinos? Are online casinos morally bad or unethical
for the young residents of the UK and worldwide? Industry experts and
debates are omnipresent when it comes to online casinos.
It is certain, however, that online casinos are helping fuel a
substantial rise in gambling addiction.
"You can basically do it from your home or your work place, and you can
gamble for 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days of the year," Mark
Griffiths, a professor of gambling, told Reuters in an interview.
"If you are a vulnerable individual, the ease of online gambling -- the
instant access and convenience of use -- is likely to fuel those
addictive tendencies you have already."
The government says 0.8 percent of the population have some sort of
addiction to gambling, some born from online casinos.
But sophisticated new software can be used to spot the unusual betting
patterns of gambling addicts at online casinos, says eCOGRA, an online
casinos auditor set up by firms like 888 Plc, Ongame and software maker
Microgaming.
"There are self-exclusion buttons the players can hit, and operators
will sometimes contact players to suggest a cooling-off period," said an
eCOGRA spokesman.
GamCare, a charity for gambling addicts, said those who contacted them
had average debts of over 25,000 pounds, and just under 5 percent of
callers had run up debts of over 100,000 pounds.
In Britain, the government has created the independent Gambling
Commission, which from 2007 will regulate the British companies who run
gaming sites.
Under the new Gambling Commission rules, gambling Web sites will have to
train employees to spot possible problem gamblers and offer help and
advice on their sites.
Online operators must also make sure customers are aware of how much
time and money they have spent.
But with most companies operating from offshore jurisdictions like
Gibraltar, Cyprus, Antigua and Costa Rica, complete regulation is
impossible.
"It's basically a lawless land," Gamcare's Teresa Tunstall told Reuters.
"We urge betters to use regulated and well known Web sites.”
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