The Online Poker Player Resource

Harvard Medical School's Division of Addictions has created what is to be the first comprehensive, empirical study of online-gambling behaviors. From that study, it was found that a majority of those who gambled online exhibited only "moderate” behavior which means that the previously-made claims that online gambling contains "an inherent propensity" to lead to "excessive" gambling is false.

The study, "Assessing the Playing Field: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Internet Sports Gambling Behavior," was conducted in collaboration with Austrian online-betting group Bwin. The main objective for this research was to help the company in creating and promoting responsible gambling. According to its author, the study was also a response, to the combination of both the rising "concerns about Internet gambling” among various interest groups and the fact that there is so little information about it.

Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) had also proposed a House bill (H.R. 2140) early last month to provide for a study of online gambling by the National Academy of Sciences due to similar reasoning.

Data from 40,000 individuals who placed sports bets on Bwin's site were observed over an eight-month period in 2005. The study took into account variables such as subjects' time spent gambling, frequency of placing bets, and amount of money wagered, and were able to conclude that "the subscribers' gambling activity levels were moderate," and that the "findings reported here do not support the speculation that Internet gambling has an inherent propensity to encourage excessive gambling among a large proportion of players."

One of the highlighted results from the study was that when those who gamble showed an increase of losses, there was also a decrease in the amount of betting. This result directly conflicts with the idea that online gambling contains "an inherent propensity" to lead to "excessive" gambling.

The researched conducted by Harvard Medical School's Division of Addictions made note its study is significant due to its large sample size and its focus on online gambling only rather than gambling in general. Furthermore, the data collected was also obtained objectively rather than through some sort of self reporting system such as a survey. Debates over online gambling in the United States have used other studies that have been not as well representative of the online gambling community. For example, Rep. Jim Bachus (R-AL) for his argument against online gambling referred to a study conducted by the University of Connecticut Health Center that found 74% of those who gambled online end up having "serious, chronic problems with addiction." However, Rep. Jim Bachus (R-AL) reference was not valid for this particular study looked surveyed only 389 individuals who were in search of free or reduced-cost health care. Among this group, only 31 of the 389 had participated in some form of online gambling.

This is only a stepping stone towards an even larger study on online gambling. There is plan for more studies that will specifically look at online casino games and poker.