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The first independent gambling guide
to the best online casinos!
Online Casinos see Problem gamblers
looking for help
Gambling at online
casinos and betting at online sports-books is quickly becoming a
favorite pastime of many of America’s citizens as well as other players
worldwide. Some of these players are under the legal age allowed to bet
at online casinos, but still visit online casinos because online casinos
are entertaining and are proof that gambling is a societal norm all over
the world. But often, with this easy access to online casinos and the
large sums of money available for betting, gambling at online casinos
comes at a very high price for those involved.
The pitfalls and dangers of gambling, whether offline or online, are
obvious, but the recent explosion of online casinos has seen more and
more problem gambling cases coming out of online casinos.
With the popularity of poker tournaments on TV like the World Series of
Poker and the World Poker Tour, people have begun to turn to online
casinos and get themselves into serious problems because these online
casinos have been proven to be quite addictive.
Since gambling at online casinos doesn’t seem as dangerous as trying
drugs or drinking too much alcohol, many people don’t equate it on the
same level of addiction and thus they have no idea of the risks and the
habits they are forming at the online casinos.
People watch poker on TV and see the glamour of big cash prizes, large
tournament pots, fancy cars, and beautiful women, and this cloudy view
often translates to big losses on online casinos.
The federal government does nothing, and state governments and gambling
industry do little to fund prevention and treatment programs for problem
gamblers at online casinos, a new article suggests.
Kathy Bassett said, an anti gambling crusader, said
"This is an industry worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars,
and ... it means nothing to them" -- meaning government, Indian tribes
and gambling companies that profit from legal gambling. Bassett said her
research showed that help for problem gamblers in the United States is
sporadic, inconsistent and badly underfunded. Especially when compared
with tobacco, alcohol and drugs -- addictions that states spend $2.5
billion a year to treat, according to the National Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
"Excessive gambling, drinking, drugging are different expressions of a
common, underlying disorder," said Shaffer of his study. "But
pathological gambling is being viewed (by the government) like some rare
disease -- much like AIDS was in its early stages. It doesn't get the
attention it should as a public health issue."
Not much money has been allocated for medical and other research that
might help detect the problem of gambling addiction before it gets out
of hand, or provide guideposts for prevention. Congress did pay for a $5
million, two-year study of the social and economic implications of
gambling in the late 1990s, but little came of the short-lived effort.
Twenty-two states offer no programs at all, a study found.
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