Internet gambling has been considered one of the fastest forms of gambling in the world today. According to reports from AGA or the American Gaming Association, more or less 3,000 online gambling websites offer sports wagering, casino games like poker, bingo, as well as a lottery. Internet gambling generated more or less $50 billion in yearly revenue.

Although it is legal in more or less 80 countries, the United States have made it almost, if not illegal, to conduct a financial transaction on the Internet for the sole purpose of placing a wager or bet. Together with the Federal Wire act of 1961, these laws have been used to fight illegal digital gambling. 

But the legal community in the United States changed a lot in December 2011 with the announcement from the United States Justice Department, limiting the Federal Wire Act applied to any forms of sports betting. The decision gave the necessary licenses in states that offer extensive options for online gambling games. 

To find out the states where gambling is legal in the United States, check out https://www.businessinsider.com/states-where-sports-betting-legal-usa-2019-7 for more information.

Because of this, there has been a flurry of laws passed at both the federal and state levels. It includes bills that legalize and regulate (federally) virtual poker or Internet gambling in general. As the United States state and federal government officials talk about the legalization of some forms of online gambling. The questions mentioned below have been raised by clinicians, researchers, as well as policymakers:

Is wagering on the Internet, especially those that attract bettors who are included to develop gambling issues?

Is any kind of online wagering – sports betting, casino games or poker – a risky industry, even for people who are not at risk in developing wagering problems?

Does the speed of specific games and social isolation of online wagering promote excessive gambling?

Is it possible to support responsible gaming for all players?

The only way to answer the questions mentioned above is to let empirical, rigorous studies and peer-reviewed science will test the assumptions critical in the questions above – specifically the traditional wisdom that modern technology that increases health risk.

The state of Internet wagering studies

Recent studies offer mixed feelings when it comes to the health risks of this activity. A lot of top publications are either commentaries and not actual research or surveys that have limited value since they did not use the necessary samples.

Not only that, the collected data from test subjects were based on self-report of test subject’s past behavior, a prevalent approach in social science research. But this type of analysis can quickly get biases from both sides because of poor memory, as well as other essential factors. 

On the other hand, current researches, including Harvard Medical School’s pioneering works have developed new techniques to study online wagering by studying actual game transaction of more or less 50,000 online players. By using actual patterns instead of relying on the test subject’s self-report, it provides the researchers with an objective and very detailed information when it comes to betting behaviors, a condition where players place their wagers. 

The white paper focuses on the analysis of these behavior patterns in the data set by scientists. As of today, it is the most reliable study available since it uses real-time data instead of relying on what the test subjects are saying to document their Internet wagering patterns.

Why do people gamble? Click here to find out.

Study on online casino

According to studies, a lot of players gamble moderately when compared to overall patterns of behaviors from all subscribers. Not only that, more or less 5% of online gambler test subjects appeared to engage in excessive wagering behavior patterns when it comes to money and time spent. 

Note: The research did not screen for wagering problems; that is why it can’t be assumed that players in the category have been diagnosed with wagering disorder.

The researcher’s overall findings contradict the notion that this activity is a public health problem since online gambling’s structural characteristics like the speed of play and easier access compared with conventional forms of gaming. 

Instead, the picture of virtual casino emerging from the research appears to be very consistent with the prevalence rates of wagering disorders all over the world, which range between one and two percent. The following parts summarize the studies on sports betting, casino games and virtual poker. It is imperative to know that science has not determined whether a particular game – traditional or online – affects the development of certain disorders. 

Digital poker players

Virtual or digital poker has been fueled by the popularity of card games, especially those that are promoted by television tournaments as well as websites like 토토사이트 or Toto sites. Noting that the widespread poker – for students – playing is considered as one of the top activities at schools or universities. 

A lot of people expressed concern that online casino poses a threat to young adults. With these problems in mind, researchers produced the first population analysis of actual behaviors evidenced by large cohorts of online casino players. While the study’s test subject did not identify their ages for the project, the information provides a broader picture of behavior patterns for virtual casino players.

This study is our first step in understanding the behavior patterns of digital casino players. It is very important for the next step in identifying casino playing on the Internet among college students to professionals. Researchers hope to check virtual casino playing patterns for adults who are legal to gamble to know if their behavior is constant or consistent with the findings.

Online sports bettors

Sports gambling on the Internet involves live betting like bets made in real-time about games, or fixed-odds betting like bets made on the results of sports competition. According to experts, sports betting found that most website subscribers engage in sports wagering, with low to medium-level gamblers making more or less three to four euros every fourth day. Players tend to adapt pretty quickly to online betting as evidence by rapidly developing declines in participation, size, and the number of bets.