The Online Poker Pro

Now that there’s  a marked shift toward legalizing many forms of Internet gambling in the United States, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has granted $3 million to revisit a study done in 1999-2000 that identified where and how often problem gambling was happening and the consequences.  The grant was spurred by concerns that greater access to Internet gambling will produce greater chance for gambling addiction to take root.

The University of Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (BRIA) is the recipient of the grant. Senior Research Scientist John W. Welte, Ph.D., of the BRIA conducted the original investigation and will once again be heading the research project. The study will consist of Welte and his team conducting phone interviews and other behind-the-scenes research to see how online gambling expansion is affecting problem gambling figures. Welte will incorporate data from his previous research project with new research to reach his conclusions. Research topics will not just be limited to Texas Hold ‘em poker and other popular forms of online and casino gambling, but also on the more informal worlds of fantasy sports and office betting pools.

According to Welte: “This research will examine trends in gambling behavior and gambling problems among adults in the United States since 1999. Most importantly, we also will examine the relationship between gambling trends and changes in the social approval of gambling, changes in neighborhoods and changes in state gambling laws.”

The focus on local gambling is key because cities and states control casinos and lottery outlets, in effect giving voters and policy makers influence over the rates of problem gambling in society at large.

A Gambler Gambles

An argument for legalizing online gambling, is that there will always be and always has been forms of gambling. For centuries people have gambled.  Ancient cave drawings have depicted people playing dice; dice made of the bone of ancient and extinct dogs have been found that date back 40,000 years.  Mahjong, the Chinese tile game is a game of chance that dates back to 2300 B.C., and archeologists have even found gambling artifacts  in what was ancient Greece, even though gambling at that time was forbidden. It is said that the universe was split into heaven, hell, and the sea by a game of dice between Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. Gambling has been around a long, long time.

“The thing is,” says long time risk taker David Giordano, “that there are those that gamble, and there are those who just don’t.  Take my wife for example.  She’s never bought a lottery ticket in her life. She doesn’t know how to play poker. I take her to the casino, she goes to the spa. She won’t even let the gas needle get lower than half a tank.  She doesn’t risk anything!”  He takes a drag off his cigarette and continues, “Me?  I’m a gambler. I play the stocks, I bet horses, blackjack. I’ve lost some on the Knicks. I play poker online and if there’s an ad that looks good that’s blinking at me and says click here to win, guess what?  I click it.  That’s just me.  A gambler gambles. Hey! I may lose just as much or more than I win, but that don’t stop me.  Why would that stop me? And why should I be stopped by the Congress?  It’s America, I’m free right? And I want to gamble online without repercussion. And I know what I’m doing, so they should just let me.  No two ways about it. Legalize it. Legalize online gambling.”

Playing card photo by Chris Withers

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