FROLITICKS

In 2011, a study of problem gambling by David Hodgins, the head of the University of Calgary’s Addictive Behaviours Laboratory, was published in the medical journal The Lancet.  According to the study, online gambling is giving easy access to future addicts without having to set foot in a casino or betting parlour.  Hodgins noted that gambling disorders are often found in conjunction with other mental health and substance-abuse disorders.  In addition, experts believe that online gambling provides exactly what most addicts are looking for — anonymity.  New Canadian research shows that gamblers have “blind spots” in recognizing addictive behaviour in themselves, traits that could make online gambling even more dangerous.  In 2010, there were an estimated 2,500 illegal and unregulated gambling websites already in existence.  Governments both in Canada and the U.S. realized that they had no choice but to introduce legislation regulating online gambling and getting a monetary share of the market for the government coffers.  The latter rationale became a real driver for public support for government-regulated and safer online gambling.  However, the always-on nature of the Internet is forcing many countries, states and provinces to re-evaluate their gambling laws in order to address new trends such as betting on the outcome of a video game, playing poker online or online betting on sports of all sorts.

In both countries, the recent arrival of sports online betting pressured federal, state and provincial governments to remove previous bans on single-game sports betting.  In Canada, the federal ban on single-game sports betting was officially lifted in August 2021. Since then, all provinces have gotten into the hypercompetitive iGaming market.  In the U.S., the Supreme Court in 2018 opened the door to widespread sports betting.  However, a recent New York Times investigation found that government oversight of sports betting offers scant consumer protections and mainly looks to the industry to police itself.  In addition, there are dedicated minimal funds by the gambling industry to combat addiction.  Furthermore, several sports betting sites in the U.S. allow gamblers to put money in their accounts via credit cards.  Furthermore, gambling companies have carpeted social media, stadiums, billboards and airwaves with advertisements plugging risk-free bets and other promotions to entice new patrons.  In contrast, several countries like Spain, Italy and Australia restricted such ads, promotions or endorsements.  In Ontario, which this year became Canada’s first province to allow sports betting, the government outlawed advertisements of free bets and other promotions.  Within months companies, including DraftKings and BetMGM, were penalized by Ontario for breaking this law, although the fines were a joke when compared to their revenues.

The issue of online gambling while at work has even surfaced in some jurisdictions and among employers.  For example, in 2010 a new threat to Quebec’s productivity was raised across the province: online gambling.  Survey findings released by Montreal polling firm CROP Inc. found that one in 10 Quebecers confessed they’d been tempted to place bets over the Internet instead of doing work.  The findings also showed that 37% of respondents said their employers had no policy on using the Internet for personal interest, including online gambling, during work hours.

Like other addictions, gambling can become highly addictive.  It is estimated that as many as one in five persons who frequently gamble, online or otherwise, could become addictive to gambling.  An Ipsos-Reid survey in 2010 in Ontario found that 92 percent of adults could recognize risky gambling behaviour in others.  However, when reflecting on their own tendencies, one in five gamblers said they had engaged in the same risky behaviours over the past year, creating “blind spots” in their perception of themselves.  Despite the oversight by government agencies and commissions, the fact is that the amount of funds dedicated to help prevent gambling addiction and help those already addicted are miniscule compared to the billions the industry brings in.  According to the recent New York Times article, last year the U.S. government didn’t allocate any money to prevent or treat gambling addiction.  As per a group that represents state employees who oversee such funds, states had only set aside a total of $94 million (U.S.).  That was 0.3 percent of what state and federal governments allocated for substance abuse.

Why not just prevent people with known gambling addiction to access such sites?   Some jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada do maintain databases of people who have asked to be blocked from gambling.  However, jurisdictions often leave it up to betting companies to download and abide by updated versions of the lists.  Several now require sports-betting companies to maintain their own self-exclusion lists, despite the evidence that companies have resisted sharing them with competitors or regulators.

While we have dealt with unregulated sports-betting and other gambling Internet sites, the fact is that we have simply replaced them with legally licensed sites.  While government regulation may appear to reassure people about the oversight of such online gambling, the fact is that the more people bet, the more governments collect taxes on gambling.  One result is that jurisdictions have, in many ways, given gambling companies free rein.  Meanwhile, the issue of gambling addictions continues and many people’s lives continue to be destroyed.