The Risks of Online Gambling

Online Gambling is an activity where real money is staked on games of chance via the Internet. This includes casino games, sports betting, and lottery-type games. It is important to note that Online Gambling carries the same risks as other types of gambling. However, there are some specific risks associated with it, including the risk of fraudulent payouts and online gambling addiction. Those who are concerned about gambling addiction should seek help from GamCare.

In the 1990s, when the World Wide Web was developing rapidly, online gambling appeared to offer a way around laws that restrict or prohibit the activity. It sparked controversy because, unlike traditional land-based gambling establishments, the site operator could establish the business in an offshore jurisdiction and then allow anyone with access to the Web to place wagers. This approach seemed to be an end run around restrictions on gambling that were enforced by state or territorial governments and to circumvent the prohibition of gambling by state monopolies.

Many studies that have assessed problematic online gambling levels have found high variability in the prevalence of disordered or pathological online gambling. This is due to a number of factors including samples, the defined timeframe and whether the assessment instrument used is a diagnostic (e.g. a DSM-5 or WHO-based diagnostic instrument such as the Online Gambling Disorder Questionnaire –OGD-Q) or a screening tool that omits the presence of online gambling elements (e.g. the SOGS-RA). These different approaches have contributed to a large amount of variation in the reported prevalence of disordered or pathological online gaming among adolescents.