Today’s publication of the UK’s Gambling Commission’s  Prevalence Survey has revealed that there has been no increase in problem gambling since 1998.  This, despite the upsurge of online gambling and sectors like online bingo since 1998.

The survey’s findings must come as somewhat of a shock to those who had confidently predicted epidemic proportions of increase in problem gambling thanks to the arrival of online gaming.
However, that has not stopped some anti-gambling outfits from putting their own spin on the findings.

“We are delighted to see that the combined efforts of GamCare and the gaming industry, with its heightened commitment to the practices of social responsibility, has led to no increase in the number of problem gamblers in the UK. Operators have made, and have indicated that they will continue to make, concerted efforts to raise the awareness of the services provided by GamCare for those individuals who get into difficulty from gambling, including the decision to carry the GamCare HelpLine number in their advertising,� said an upbeat statement from gambling charity GamCare.

While I personally have sympathy for any individual who develops a gambling problem, and I know that the people at Bingo Street make every effort to ensure a responsible approach to the playing of free online bingo is represented by all in the industry, I feel online bingo can take heart that its phenomenal growth has not contributed to a rise in problem gambling.

I agree with Coinslot editor Chris Murphy when he wrote: “The national press have clearly been fed some erroneous information judging by all the pre-publication hype surrounding the 2007 Prevalence Survey. That the final document actually shows there has been no increase in problem gambling is hard evidence that the coin-op business is working vigorously on its social responsibility ethic. Stakeholders have every right to feel vindicated by these findings.�

Written by John Witherspoon - Come and play online bingo at its best! The best bingo games online are one click away.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 2:01 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.