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New Harvard Medical School Study "online gaming does not promote gambling addiction"

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08-28-2014 , 01:11 PM

Videopro

Making TV

Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 19,462

http://ggbmagazine.com/issue/vol-13-.../no-difference

Quote:

A new study from the Harvard Medical School’s Division of Addiction found that online gaming does not promote gambling addiction, and that the vast majority of those gambling on the internet are casual gamblers who effectively set limits for themselves.

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08-28-2014 , 01:34 PM

uradoodooface

banned

Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,381

Nice!

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08-28-2014 , 01:40 PM

28renton

old hand

Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1,627

Send it to Stephen Harper, please.

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08-28-2014 , 01:42 PM

VP$IP

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 6,841

Send it to Sheldon Adelson.

... the median online poker player only went online 4.88 hours per week and paid less than a dollar per hour per table in rake or tournament entry fees

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08-28-2014 , 01:45 PM

Videopro

Making TV

Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 19,462

Found a link to a PDF White Paper on the study. Page 14 has the stats.
http://www.bwinparty.com/AboutUs/mis...2F02C3859.ashx

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08-28-2014 , 01:49 PM

balooko31

grinder

Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 624

The paid actors and children in Venetian Casino owner Sheldon Adelson's "Stop Internet Gambling" commercials would disagree with this.

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08-28-2014 , 01:58 PM

morgant

FourCubed Rep

Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 1,971

I heard CSIG paid its children actors in Clash of Clan gems.

But seriously, any rhetoric promoting online gaming regulation is good for underage and addicted users. So blast this post everywhere?

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08-29-2014 , 02:00 AM

Domingo Cerrado

centurion

Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 141

Good find.

You might also be interested in this http://www.academia.edu/823378/The_G..._Poker_Players - a survey on the gambling habits of online poker players in Germany using the PokerStars database.

Last edited by Domingo Cerrado; 08-29-2014 at 02:07 AM. Reason: had wrong link inserted

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08-29-2014 , 03:36 AM

xPeru

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,197

I can see that from 2013, but for the life of me can't find anything released recently.

The Harvard study has been releasing stuff for several years, and another article a few weeks ago referred to the 2012 releases as "new" reearch - without maligning GGB, I was concerned that they had confused the 2012 research.

If anyone has a link to this conclusion in something recently published by Harvard I'd like to be able to read it
tyty

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08-29-2014 , 04:51 AM

#10

ZombiePro

enthusiast

Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 81

That's complete bull ****

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09-02-2014 , 07:18 PM

#11

mumpfmampf

old hand

Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 1,553

Nice theory

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09-02-2014 , 07:25 PM

#12

kutty2

adept

Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 833

^^^ haha right

My first thought: well, i just lost respect for the harvard medical school study program

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09-02-2014 , 08:51 PM

#13

Prolific528

banned

Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,179

Quote:

Originally Posted by kutty2

^^^ haha right

My first thought: well, i just lost respect for the harvard medical school study program

This. I mean, come on. I'm all for making the game look good in front of the ignorant public, but this is a load of garbage.

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09-02-2014 , 08:59 PM

#14

00001

old hand

Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 1,511

New Harvard Medical School Study "crack does not promote drug addiction"

... the median crack user only went buy crack 7 days per week and paid less than a 10$ per acquisition.

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09-02-2014 , 09:20 PM

#15

bjsmith22

veteran

Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 2,235

Quote:

Originally Posted by kutty2

^^^ haha right

My first thought: well, i just lost respect for the harvard medical school study program

I don't think you're very high on the list of Harvard's "People we need to respect us" anyway

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prolific528

This. I mean, come on. I'm all for making the game look good in front of the ignorant public, but this is a load of garbage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 00001

New Harvard Medical School Study "crack does not promote drug addiction"

... the median crack user only went buy crack 7 days per week and paid less than a 10$ per acquisition.

You guys can't be serious. Do you seriously value your own independent thought more than a Harvard study? Yeesh.

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09-02-2014 , 09:22 PM

#16

Videopro

Making TV

Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 19,462

They confirmed it by thinking about it. No reason to download and look at the study.

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09-02-2014 , 09:27 PM

#17

bjsmith22

veteran

Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 2,235

No, of course not. Who needs information to form an opinion? Not this guy.

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09-02-2014 , 09:32 PM

#18

00001

old hand

Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 1,511

A study of bwin, nice. It was kinda of lol if they said people lose a ton everyday there lol.

kinda in the law world when you buy a study to a reputable jurist in the community in a controversial matter to defense your cause.

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09-03-2014 , 04:14 AM

#19

Richas

veteran

Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 3,440

The balance of the research findings should shift the whole debate. This opinion piece on the latest research and its importance for policy is well worth a read

http://www.basisonline.org/2014/08/s...d-policy-.html

Quote:

The social adaptation model of gambling1 provides a good example of how social policies can remain static in the face of dynamic research. During the past several decades, the prevalence of gambling problems generally has remained stable, despite the proliferation of gambling opportunities. Yet, governments and the public remain cautious in the face of new gambling development, even as adjacent jurisdictions or underground economies serve their residents.

Policy tasks for researchers are not easy. Good policy considers theory, available evidence, potential unintended consequences, and potential unintended benefits. Good policy does this all while weighing the probability and scale of possible outcomes. This amounts to a lot of guesswork in new fields of research. Good policy also draws from different fields of study, each of whose researchers may have conflicting recommendations.

When online gambling emerged as a new medium, most indications seemed to point to it as a probable source of major harm. Heavy legislative restrictions may have been appropriate, given the potential negative impacts perceived at the time, and the relatively small economic benefits compared to other forms of gambling. Despite the (perhaps overly dramatic) anecdotal forecasts and caricatures that were fraught with images of players gambling in the bathtub while their children lost the family inheritance, erring on the side of caution seemed to have been the prudent decision. Even if researchers identified the means by which online gambling may have been less harmful – e.g. lower average bet sizes, easier access to help resources from the gaming device, no servicescape engineering designed to prolong the gambling session – on the balance, the potential costs outweighed potential benefits. However, given work by LaPlante, Nelson, LaBrie, and Shaffer (2011), Gainsbury et al. (2013), Hing et al. (2014), Philander and MacKay (2014), and others, research is tipping in the direction of non-causation.2 In other words, the relationship between gambling severity and online gambling may not be direct and factors such as overall gambling involvement should be considered. This kind of distinction is where policy advice needs to catch up to research.

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09-05-2014 , 03:25 AM

#20

xPeru

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,197

Richas, I went to town on this subject in an article I put out today - you know where I write.

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09-05-2014 , 03:28 AM

#21

Tuma

Worships Amon-Ra

Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 17,716

Quote:

According to the Harvard report, 95 percent or more of gamblers studied played in moderation, with “Intense gambling behavior” exhibited by only 1 percent to 5 percent of the players. According to the report, bwin’s subscribers, on average, went online once every two weeks and lost around 5.5 percent of their bankroll each time. Sports bettors placed 2.5 bets every four days, with an average stake of $5.50.
The Hamburg study that the median online poker player only went online 4.88 hours per week and paid less than a dollar per hour per table in rake or tournament entry fees.

lol, ok.

would genuinely be interested in a smart guy's assessment of the 14-page doc posted above (statistical biasing etc.), bc i love poker and am a degen w/ degen friends, and saying online gambling doesn't stimulate the addiction center in the brain, to me is like saying an alcoholic can drink beer.

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09-05-2014 , 06:17 AM

#22

Richas

veteran

Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 3,440

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuma

Well it is like this. The degen will seek out gambling despite any barriers you put in their way. Illegal?...Meh need to travel... meh. At its simplest the degens get together and degen but in reality if you put legal barrier in the way criminals serve the degens.

Adding legal internet gambling is another choice for the degen but they were doing it anyway, the extra choice brings in non degen gamblers who take part without the barriers but would not otherwise.

The contrasting theories are "access" - more access leads to more problem gambling, a populist and simplistic approach that the research is increasingly discrediting and "adaption", that is that adults exposed to gambling may try it, may bet more but over time they adapt, make sensible choices.

Now access may seem to make the degen worse but in reality not so much. Especially if that legal access can be opted out of via self exclusion.

Put it this way, if you smoke then you get your cigs whatever, illegal meh. If you don't smoke having them sold in every store you visity makes no difference at all you stil don't buy them. Degens are addicts, they will degen anyway, "normal" people just don't, even if the chance to degen is everywhere.

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09-05-2014 , 06:29 AM

#23

Richas

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Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 3,440

Quote:

Originally Posted by xPeru

Richas, I went to town on this subject in an article I put out today - you know where I write.

oh go on, give us a link, my ageing brain is struggling again today.

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09-05-2014 , 06:38 AM

#24

Tuma

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Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 17,716

thanks for the post, but i assumed the journal implicated people responding to the online stimulus differently than those found elsewhere, as it was hinted at in the lolquote i originally responded to.

sure, introducing online gambling would only refracture the lives of sober addicts, but i'm still going to lol at the notion that it won't open up a cycle of destruction for some of those who had luckily avoided self-abuse until that point.