Gambling

1
Gambling
...
on the Internet
2
Structure of Term Paper

• Introduction
• Types of Gambling
• History
• Internet Gambling
• Types
• Development
• Risks Concerns
• Benefits
• Government Regulations
• Conclusions

3
Types and Development

• Customers are mainly
• Male
• English speaking

• 30-80 annual growth
• plus software and hardware business
• Other studies vary significantly and are mostly
  higher

• Online casinos and sports booking are the pillars
  of internet gambling

• Digital divide also in internet gambling
• Emerging markets are Europe and Asia

4
Risks Benefits
5
Government Regulation

• 40 countries worldwide which allow gambling
• Australia, Austria, Germany, Finland...
• Off-shore countries (tax haven)

• USA struggles bet regulation and banning
• 40 billion tax revenue by state-run lottery

The government has as much of a chance of
banning internet gambling as the FAA has of
banning migrating ducks flying through commercial
air space. (Posting in a
gambling newsgroup)
It is impossible to stop people gambling on the
Internet, all you can do is to make it harder.
(The Economist 1999)
6
Conclusions
1. Internet Gambling will not substitute off-line
industry

• betting will be mostly conducted via Internet
• but casinos and lotteries will hold a big market
  share
• overall growth

2. Trend toward regulation instead of banning

• regulation (mostly through licensing) is the only
  way to generate budget to cover the social costs
  following from excess gambling
• these social costs occur independent from any
  regulation

3. Social Problems will sharply increase

• youth gambling and pathological gambling due to
  features of Internet

7
End of the story
I had control of my gambling behaviour, ...
...but the presence of internet gambling made it
uncontrollable. (web posting of an addict)