Online Gambling

Historically, the federal government has been hostile to internet gaming. For instance, the Department of Justice attempted to interpret the Interstate Wire Act as relating to all gambling. However, the Fifth Circuit disagreed.

Although some governments have taken steps to address problem gambling, the regulatory landscape is still evolving. For example, several states are offering help to people with gambling addiction.

Likewise, there is no clear-cut answer as to whether or not Internet gambling is associated with a rise in problem gamblers. Some researchers claim that it is, while others believe it is not. Some studies report that internet gamblers are more likely to report that they have had problems than their offline counterparts. Using data from a single European gambling site, LaPlante and colleagues found that there was a link between involvement and the incidence of a problem.

In general, the results of this study suggest that it isn’t the most effective way to measure the effect of internet gambling. In particular, the one indicator of gambling involvement, the number of games played in a month, wasn’t robust enough to predict the probability that a gambler would develop a gambling problem.

The best indicator of this may be the amount of money a person wins or loses. There are many ways to win on the Internet, and it’s worth looking into the rules of a slot machine before you play.

While online gambling is an industry that is booming, the federal government has remained a thorn in its side. As with most new technologies, laws take time to catch up with the latest developments.