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April 21 - Professor Don Ross, the Research Director at the National Responsible Gambling Program in South Africa, is eyeing the new online gambling regulation proposal, published in the recent Government Gazette, with interest.
Ross believes that the easy availability of credit to online gamblers could be problematic for addicts, and welcomes the government's decision to limit online casino accounts to a maximum of R20,000 per player.
Ross' concerns stem from the fact that some addicts may not be able to distinguish between credit and real cash. "It can be said that people may not fully appreciate the financial implications of using credit and it could even get responsible gamblers into trouble," warned Ross.
Ross' views about the accessibility of credit were shared by a colleague, Prof. Peter Collins who acts as the Executive Director of the National Responsible Gambling Program. "E-gambling's convenience means that gambling is available 24/7, permitting all forms of gambling for unlimited stakes and prizes, and therefore the most dangerous form from the point of view of impulse and excessive gambling," said Prof. Collins at a university in Prague recently. "This is driven even more by the convenience of paying, especially through telephone or television rental accounts. It is also hard to enforce implementation of safeguards and so there are issues in terms of advertising control and identification of players, especially minors."
Nevertheless, Ross was forced to admit that research shows that gambling addiction does not increase with exposure to online casinos. "On a theoretical level, online gaming's increased accessibility should make it more dangerous than traditional gaming," he said. "But from the limited investigation we have done, it does not seem to be the reality."
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