The report commissioned by the Swedish government into the social impact of state monopoly Svenska Spel’s move into online poker has produced some interesting preliminary findings.

A study conducted by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health has found that online poker players are more likely to become problem gamblers than online players of other games.  The ‘other’ games must surely include online bingo and all its wonderful variations, meaning bingo online does not pose a risk in producing online problem gamblers in the same way online poker does.

Without going into the specifics of the report (a more detailed report is being prepared for next year and I’ll look at that one more closely), the percentage figures for online poker being responsible for creating problem gambling is a whopping 27%, whilst other games only constitute a mere 2% approximately.

In my opinion, this is very encouraging for the future of free online bingo as a socially responsible form of online gaming, irrespective of the inevitable debate as to what defines an ‘online problem gambler’.

For what it’s worth, here’s another finding by the study that caught my eye:

• There are indications that alcohol consumption by online poker players is above the national average.

Make of that what you will…

Written by John Witherspoon – Visit the best UK online bingo site. Bingostreet.com is your ultimate source for the best bingo games online.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 8:36 am and is filed under Online Bingo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.