Passion and addiction have a thin line but an important difference between each other. While passion is defined as a strong liking towards a certain hobby or work, addiction simply indicates psychological dependencies on passion.
Online casinos, despite their fun-filled and entertaining outlooks, have been interpreted as dark places for players with gambling addiction. These players — often called punters — don’t consider gaming as leisure activity, but treat it as their sole method to earn money. Such abusing cause both societal and financial damages to the punters, as they disgustingly transform themselves from worthy to worthless.
The State University of New York, in its report from 2012, had found that almost three to five gamblers out of every hundred struggles with gambling addiction. The report had also claimed that over 75,000 young people — between ages 14 and 21 — have a gambling addiction problem.
Another survey conducted by British Gambling Prevalence Surveys (BGPS) in 2012 had found that around 1% of all the Britons had gambling addiction. Heather Wardle, the BGPS’s Project Director at that time, had expressed concerns over the rising gambling addiction in the UK, and had stated:
“They [the punters] often get into financial difficulties. When the problem is extreme, they use various strategies to get more money in order to gamble and, in the most extreme situations, they will commit crime.”
The BGPS had also reported that 7% of all the Britons were at risk of turning into gambling addicts.
Responsible Gaming Strategies At Play
The UK’s Responsible Gaming Strategy Board (RGSP) had recently outlined its proposal to mitigate gambling-related harm. In a document published in November 2015, the body advised the Gambling Commission and the government to review their previous stands against the betting addiction. According to the report, the old responsible gaming strategies were not entirely successful to mitigate the addiction risks associated with the gambling.
RGSP went on asking for revised regulations, which included minimizing gambling-related aggressive advertising and marketing campaigns and strengthening social responsibility concerning children’s access to online gambling platforms.
Online Casinos Should Respect Responsible Gambling
While the high quality services could always be the major concerns for online casinos, the best would still be the ones that understand their social responsibility towards gambling addiction. A reputed online casino business would always ensure that no minor gets to access its services; it will also focus on generating people’s awareness of negative aspects of excessive gambling.
Meanwhile, a reputed online casino can make itself better by offering all sort of customer support to players suffering addiction. It should provide its player sufficient rights to set their financial limits and have their gambling accounts blocked.
Players, meanwhile, should ask them the following questions before they transform themselves into a aggressive bettor: Does gambling effect your personal relationships; Is gambling affecting your financial priorities; Are you borrowing money to fulfill your so-called gambling passion?
If the answer to all the questions are Yes, then you should right away speak to your online casino manager.
Cover Image by Ivo Vuk