A profile of problem gamblers treated at Adelaide’s (Australia) Flinders University School of Medicine (“FUSM”)suggest traditional pokies (ie slot machines) are far more addictive online gambling options.
FUSM treated around 800 problem gamblers in 2010-11 and less than 1% said that their problem stemmed from online gambling. By stark contrast, almost 84% admitted their addition was to traditional poker machines (the Australian term for slots).
The result flies in the face of continues political and community concerns voiced about the dangers of online gambling. Too pervasive. Too accessible. Too addictive. This is the common chorus.
FUSM’s Professor of Psychiatry Malcolm Battersby did admit that their findings were hard to explain.
“People have said for a long, long time: `Look out, here comes a tsunami of people with problem gambling’ because of the new forms of gambling and we have not seen that yet…We don’t know why is the short answer. But like all young people, perhaps those who are taking up the new forms of gambling just don’t seek help”
He did speculate that given it usually takes 5-7 years for problem gamblers to seek help, and online is a reasonably modern medium, we are yet to see the ‘tsunami’.
Hmmm. Possible.
Although online slots and sports betting have been around for more than 15 years now.
