A new study from the International Gaming Research Unit shows that online casinos may in fact be more addicting than gambling at brick and mortar casinos.  There are not many published studies on online casinos and addiction.  Not so long ago there was a study that showed online casinos may be slightly less addictive or at least there were fewer cases of addiction.  However this study from Dr. Mark Griffiths shows online casinos to be significantly more addicting than traditional gambling methods.

Dr. Griffith is Chartered Psychologist and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit.  According to the data he compiled from the British Gambling Prevalence Survey, it appears that online casinos are ten times more likely to produce problem gambling than traditional brick and mortar casinos.  That is a disturbing statistic and I have not found any explanation as to why online casinos might be that much more addictive.  It is likely due to the privacy and the immediacy of online casinos.  If a problem gambler lives alone there is no one to turn them away from a self destructive path.  That is the reason why many countries have introduced a weekly and monthly wagering cap for online gambling.

“This study’s findings suggest that the medium of the internet may be more likely to contribute to problem gambling than gambling in offline environments,” said Griffiths. 

“It is clear that gaming companies need to acknowledge they will need to provide even better social responsibility infrastructures online than offline to minimize the harm to problem gamblers.”