Harvard Study Destroys Notion That Online Poker Causes Addiction

Throughout the year, Sheldon Adelson has been feeding the American public a substantial amount of garbage regarding the evils of online poker. Using hokey one-liners such as “click your mouse and lose your house” and buying politicians like Lindsey Graham, the Las Vegas Sands CEO is doing his best to halt online poker and casino games. But Adelson’s anti-internet gaming campaign has just taken a huge hit thanks to a recent Harvard Medical School study on the subject.

Harvard Medical School´s Division on Addiction found that despite 24/7 access to online gaming sites, the vast majority of players don’t spend much time or money on internet gambling. Furthermore, the study backs up Harvard’s previous stance that online gaming hasn’t increased the number of pathological gamblers from 35 years ago. These are definitely encouraging findings for those who favor legal online poker across the United States. So it’s worth diving deeper into the Harvard research numbers.

The Largest Study of Its Kind

The Harvard Medical School study is the largest ever performed on internet gaming. With help from Bwin and PokerStars, the Division on Addiction examined the habits of 4,000 casino players, 40,000 sports bettors and, through a supplemental University of Hamburg study, 2 million online poker players.

Researchers discovered that Bwin casino players logged on twice a month and lost an average of 5.5% of their bankroll in every session. Sports bettors made 2.5 bets every four days, and each bet was worth an average of $5.50. Looking at PokerStars players over a six-month span, Harvard (and Hamburg) found that the average player logged just 4.88 hours on the tables, spending less than a dollar in rake per hour.

Nothing has changed in 35 Years

In 2011, two former Harvard Division on Addiction staffers named Howard Shaffer and Ryan Martin wrote a paper about how online gaming hasn’t changed the habits of gamblers. One telling excerpt from the paper reads:

“contrary to predictions derived from the exposure model, the prevalence of PG (pathological gambling) has remained stable or been influenced by adaptation during the past 35 years despite an unprecedented increase in opportunities and access to gambling.”

Shaffer added that when new gambling opportunities are introduced, there will be a short-term spike in activity, before people get bored with it and things return to normal. Combining these thoughts with the findings of Harvard’s recent study, one can see that legal US online poker is unlikely to bring on the decay of society, as Adelson wants us to believe. Instead, the more likely result is that those who don’t normally visit land-based casinos will have a convenient outlet to enjoy mild gaming.

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