integrity & internet sports gambling european gaming and betting association european parliament...
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Integrity & Internet Sports Gambling
European Gaming and Betting AssociationEuropean Parliament
Brussels, Belgium
Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S.
February 17, 2009
•Richard LaBrie•Debi LaPlante•Sarah Nelson•Anja Schumann•Ziming Xuan•John Kleschinsky•Allyson Pellar•Leslie Bosworth•Ingrid Maurice•Sara Kaplan•Gabriel Caro•Chris Reilly•Chrissy
Thurmond
Acknowledgments•bwin Interactive Entertainment, AG
•The National Center for Responsible Gaming
•The Las Vegas Sand Corporation
•Iowa Department of Public Health•Nevada Department of Public
Health•Missouri Port Authority•National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism•National Institute on Mental
Health•National Institute on Drug
Abuse•Massachusetts Council on
Compulsive Gambling•Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation•University of Nevada, Las
Vegas
Objectives
•Review the meaning of INTEGRITY
•Show how studying actual gambling behavior rather than self-reports provides insight into whether Internet gambling compromises integrity
•Consider some of the findings from our Internet-based research
Oversimplifying Integrity:
Three Primary Types•Self-integration - integrating parts of an
individual or group into a harmonious whole
•Individual or group identity - consistency of commitment
•Representing personal virtue or moral purpose – holding these virtues limit the set of commitment options for an individual or group
Integrity & the Internet
The Internet has integrity when:
•Technological components have consistency of design & function (integration)
•You get what you pay for without deception (honest commerce)
•Internet use will not compromise the public health
•What people do on the Internet reflects their individual commitments, motivations, & objectives
Internet Gambling Might Challenge Internet IntegrityPopulation challenge
•Some observers have suggested that gambling will compromise the integrity of society, in general, and families, in particular
Individual challenge
•Some researchers have suggested that the Internet, in general, and Internet gambling, in particular, will compromise the integrity of Internet users and Internet gamblers by encouraging disordered gambling
Population Challenge:Speculating About Exposure
“…current data shows that when gambling activities are legalized, economies will be plagued with 100% to 550% increases in the numbers of addicted gamblers (probably within one to five years, but almost certainly within fifteen years).”
John Warren KindtThe Economic Aspects of Legalized Gambling Activities, Drake Law Review, 43, 1994, p.59.
Evidence about the Population Challenge•Prevalence of gambling disorders has
been relatively stable during the past 35 years, despite dramatic increases in the growth of gambling exposure and access.
•In the United States, the rate of serious gambling disorders was 0.7% during the middle 1970s. Today researchers estimate the rate to be about 0.6%.
“If they don’t depend on true evidence, scientists are no better
than gossips.”
Herbert Flowerdew to Fred Fairly, in The Gate of Angels, ch. 3 (1990).
Penelope Fitzgerald(British author)
Internet Gambling Evidence Before 2007:
No Studies of Actual Internet Gambling Behavior
Internet Gambling Evidence After 2007: Studies of Actual Internet Gambling Behavior Begin to
Appear
Internet Gambling
Division on Addictions
Collaborative
8 month data set
bwin Longitudinal Cohort
Median BehaviorsTotal Sample and Most Involved Losers (1%)
Measure Total (39,719) Top B&L* (144)
Duration 116 (of 244) 219 (of 244)
Frequency 23% 50%
Bets/day 2.5 7
Euros/bet 4 42
Total Wagered 148 21,807
Net Loss 33 3,914
% Lost 29% 18%
Self and Corporate Deposit Limits
Corporate Deposit LimitsOnly 0.3% attempted to
exceed deposit limits These subscribers
evidenced higher average number of bets per active betting day and higher average size of bets
Notification did not curtail betting behavior
Self-imposed Deposit Limits
1.2% exercised the self-limit option for deposits
These subscribers played a wider variety of games and placed more bets
After imposing self-limits, fixed odds gambling changed. Players
reduced their active betting days reduced the number of bets they
made per day reduced the amount they wagered
during specific time periods
DO INTERNET GAMBLERS REALLY CHASE THEIR LOSSES?
Account Closers Who Report Having Gambling
Problems
ResultsAccountClosers
Full sample
Total subjects 226 264
Total observations (daily aggregates)
10,143 10,199
Age (S.D.) 29.3 (8.0) 30 (8.5)
% male 93% 93%
Gambling behaviors
Range of gambling days 3 - 299 1 - 299
Mean gambling days 45 39
Median gambling days 23 16
Median bets per gambling day
5 5
Median stake per bet €7.67 €7.64
Median Odds per bet 2.49 2.49
Median actual net loss per bet
€0.67 €0.68
As gamblers approached their respective closure time, they…
•had increasing monetary loss per bet
•increased their stake per bet
•bet shorter odds per bet
•made fewer bets per day
Results Summary
Caveat
•We don’t know how much disposable income these bettors had available
•Therefore, it is not possible to calibrate the social harms that these losses might have caused
Despite the caveat about discretionary funds, the results
suggest that problem gambling is not as common among Internet
sports bettors as the conventional wisdom suggested before we
examined actual gambling behavior.
Conclusion
Don’t Translate Opinion & Gossip into
Public PolicyLet Science be Your Guide
www.divisiononaddictions.org
www.basisonline.org
www.thetransparencyproject.org
www.expressionsofaddiction.com
Thanks & Internet Resources