(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick




Question One: Do You Have An Online Gambling Problem?

from the not-so-convincing dept

While online gambling is still illegal in the US (despite the fact that many online gambling operations claim the majority of their users are US-based), it is perfectly legal elsewhere. Still, like legal offline casinos in the US, the legal online casinos need to at least act concerned about gambling addicts. The latest move is that some online casinos are looking to put a "scientifically developed" survey on their site that is supposed to tell someone whether or not they have a problem with online gambling. Of course, it's hard to see how the survey will actually do anything. First off, it's completely voluntary -- suggesting that those who are actually addicted to gambling will find it a bit more compelling to, you know, keep gambling. Meanwhile, even for folks whose surveys indicate they have a massive gambling problem, the sites won't block those users. It's more for "self-awareness" in letting people know that they have a problem, but certainly not doing anything productive to help them deal with it. It appears that this is more designed for these online casinos, so when people ask them about how they deal with online gambling addicts, they can say, "well, we have this survey..."

1 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Aug 15th, 2005 @ 5:02am
  • No Subject Given

    by Matt

    they don't need s survey for this...if you spent more than 18 of the last 24hrs on the site you probably have a problem (and need a free upgrade to their gold client account)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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