ITGS Portfolio: Online Gambling, a Growing Addiction

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News Item: Online gambling: A growing addiction, Retrieved January 20, 2006 from http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ESPNSports/story?id=1458859

Area of Impact: Entertainment

Author: ABC News Staff

Source: ABC News

URL: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ESPNSports/story?id=1458859

Date of Publication: Jan 1, 2006

Date Submitted: March 10, 2006

APresentation of the Issue

Online gambling has become one of the biggest and most successful enterprises on the planet. Starting with 35 gambling sites in 1997, there are roughly 1,800 today. An estimated 1.8 million gamblers around the world take part in online poker every month (Wired Magazine). According to Informa Media group, "online gambling revenues will reach $15.5 billion in 2006, up from $3.81 in 2002. " (Fox, 2003). The huge popularity of Online Gambling has also influenced Entertainment.

Online gambling offers many advantages to entertainment: the thrill of a casino at home, an enjoyable and safe way to lay out some money, the opportunity to win back thousands in return, free accounts, online competition, secure funds, and more games than regular land-casinos. The biggest convenience is immediacy. We can play in the comfort of our own homes.

Despite the advantages, many disadvantages prevail. Despite the immediate access at home, it usually takes much longer to play the games because of internet speed and connection. Not only that, but visually the games tend uninteresting because of inferior graphics, sound and video presentation. Another drawback that online casinos face is integrity. It is doubtful that these casinos are all fair and honest. This is a controversial matter, since two major online-casino operators have been revealed with criminal records that range from bank scams organized crime.

Whilst fraud and bankruptcy are of great concern, addiction is the main problem caused by online gambling. There are an estimated 6 million people who suffer of compulsive gambling in the United States alone (Main Article). Half the men in college gamble on a monthly basis, even though it is illegal to do so. (Spurlock, 2003).

BThe IT Background of the Issue

The economical value of computers and the prevalent use of the Internet have led to the demand for various forms of entertainment provided online. The first online casino was initiated a decade ago, making way for the hundreds that are currently found online. While casinos are not available to most people, the internet makes it possible for anyone to gamble from the comfort of their own home, which is why it has become extremely successful over the years.

Online gambling is different from "in-person" traditional gambling in that there is no dealer. The games are controlled and run by computerized programs, which is why there is no interaction between the player and a dealer. The games are enriched with attractive graphics and sounds that bring the game to life and make it as close as possible to the real thing. There is also a list of rules for each game and a chart that organizes the amount of money that the player wins or loses. (Grabianowski, 2006)

First, the user should cash in to a gambling web site, through a two-step process. The user must register an account which gets transferred to an on-line bank such as EzCash. EzCash sets up an account, checks the user's age, and takes the user's credit card number, email address and street address. Then, the user has to create a login name and password at both the casino and bank.

Finally, there is the process of cashing out, whereby the user signs out of the casino, and then out of EzCash. Unlike cashing in which is posted directly to the credit card, cashing out takes a long time, around a month. If the user wins an amount greater than that he cashed in for, he receives a certified cheque.

CImpact of the Issue

Online Gambling brings many advantages to the field of entertainment. It can be done within the comfort of your own home. There are a wide variety of sites offering a large selection of betting types (following graph). It is very competitive and many casinos offer attractive bonuses in order to secure your playing. People can also play for free, for the mere enjoyment of the game. Most casinos operating online now are just as safe as their land-based counterparts. All this would improve game play and boost the field of entertainment, providing users with a various gaming spectrum to enjoy.

However, it may be argued that Online Gambling breeds addiction. It allows millions of people to gamble, when they usually would not have that access, making it the fifth most addictive activity in the world. As the number of gamblers increases, so does the number of gambling addicts. In 1999, it was estimated that 2.5 million North Americans were pathological gamblers while another 3 million had serious gambling problems (National Opinion Research Center, NORC). Director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling (NCALG), Tom Grey, speaks of addiction saying, "as a form of entertainment, gambling is a disease to five percent of the population that will entertain themselves into bankruptcy. So obviously, the more available and accessible you make gambling, the more you compound the problem." (Online Gambling Rules and Regulations).

Online gambling also promotes fraud. Gamblers can never be assured that the games they play are legal and can't be assured a payoff. Many dishonest internet gambling operators are able to change or entirely remove gambling sites very quickly, from their offshore locations, steal credit card numbers and then money from accounts and quickly shut down their work before they can be caught by the law. Nowadays, gambling sites have become a sanctuary for criminals and hackers. Accomplished hackers would have many credit card numbers which they would illegaly charge cash to. (Kushner, 2005)

Money laundering is yet another quandary resulting from this issue. Because of the distant access, anonymity, and security of data, it is very easy for money laundering to take place. All money launderers need is an amount of money in an offshore account, which they can use to gamble and can afford to lose a part of. The remaining funds can then be cashed out safely because of anonymity and encryption of data. This action goes unnoticed most of the time.

Based on a survey done by River City Group, there are over 1,800 different internet gambling sites present on the web and around 10 different types of sites. The excess websites only make it more feasible to gamble and become addicted.

In conclusion, the main problem is addiction, an illness that "if not treated, will affect a person's entire lifestyle" (Main Article).

D A Solution to a Problem Arising from the Issue

One solution is to raise awareness. This is extremely necessary for individuals who do not realize, or do not admit how serious their gambling has become. Greater public awareness can prevent people for falling deeper into addiction and can reduce the consequences of the potential damage that could be done. College students, workers, sports addicts and the entire community must be informed of the problems associated with this issue. TV commercials, anti-gambling posters, and even internet advertisements would do wonders to decrease the number of people gambling online. Without them, people are prone to give it a try. (Lessani, 1998)

Advertisements can show the public how easy it is to get addicted and warn them of the consequences. However, TV, newspaper, and radio ads can be quite expensive. Although they could be very effective once displayed in the community, their release will require large financial contributions. It takes many volunteers and sponsors to go through with a project like this. In conclusion, this solution is efficient and should yield the intended results, provided a lot of effort is put into this project.

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ESelection and Use of Sources

References:

Fox, M. (2003) Managing internet gambling in the workplace. Retrieved March 3, 2006, from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_4/fox/

Grabianowski, E. (2006). How online gambling works. Retrieved February 2, 2006 from http://money.howstuffworks.com/online-gambling.htm (2/2/2006)

Kushner, D. (2005) On the internet, nobody knows you're a bot. Retrieved March 2, 2006 from http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/13.09/pokerbots.html?pg=1&topic=pokerbots&topic_set=

Lessani, A. M. (1998) How much do you want to bet that the Internet gambling prohibition act of 1997 is not the most effective way to tackle the problems of online gambling? Retrieved February 11, 2006 from http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/alessani.html

Online gambling: A growing addiction. (2006). Retrieved January 20, 2006 from http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ESPNSports/story?id=1458859

Online gambling, online tips, Game Care. Retrieved January 28, 2006 from http://www.gamcare.org.uk/site.builder/onlinehelp.html

Online gambling rules & regulations. (2003). Retrieved March 2, 2006 from http://www.online-gambling-rules.org/regulated.html

Partenheimer, D. P. (2006). Internet gamblers may be more likely to have serious gambling problem than other gamblers, study finds. Retrieved February 2, 2006 from http://www.apa.org/releases/gamblingonline.html

Spurlock, A. (2003) Gambling becoming addiction among teenagers, young adults. Retrieved March 3, 2006, from http://www.youngmoney.com/money_management/spending/020809_0 4

Thorp, E.O. (1962).

Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One. New York: Vintage Books.

Titmowse, P. (2002) Gambling for green. Retrieved February 11, 2006 from http://www.cozyfrog.com/guides/money/articles/GamblingGreen.asp