 Call for
Online Casinos to Cap Limits
In the UK at the moment as in the US there is a
debate raging concerning online casinos.
A British Member of Parliament wants credit card companies to
put a limit on the amount of money that can be gambled in online
casinos.
Mike Weir of the Scottish National Party wants a cap of no more
than £1,000, approximately $1,850 US per player to be spent in
online casinos on a weekly basis. He is also calling for online
casinos to only allow one credit card per player.
This proposal follows the case of a 25 year old Scottish man who
stole 13 of his parent's credit cards and lost £158,000
($290,000 US) in less than one hour.
APACS who represent the credit card industry and also several
online casinos feel that this proposal will not solve the
problem and get to the root of the issue.
Another issue has been raised, over the wisdom of credit card
companies allowing borrowing levels to be raised so high, with
no thorough checks being carried out.
Many lawyers are seeing more and more cases of bankruptcies that
have arisen from gambling in online casinos.
There are experts who believe that gambling addiction is a
social issue that should be dealt with much the same as an
alcoholic would be dealt with. The core of the issue is to deal
with the individuals' addiction rather than limit everybody's
access to it.
It is estimated that the number of individual gamblers using
online casinos in the UK will grow by 22% in the next year.
There has also been much criticism over the tactics of the
online casinos to lure new gamblers in. These online casinos are
aggressively marketed to appeal to younger players who are drawn
in by glamour. Many online poker websites use celebrities such
as Brad Pitt and Sarah Jessica Parker to promote online poker.
Doctors are warning of an explosion of severe gambling
addictions in the UK due to the new super casinos being built
and online casinos being so easily accessible. This topical
issue was brought in to question at the British Medical
Associations annual conference and warned that there are few
support networks in place to deal with gambling addiction.
The average debt in online casinos in the UK is £25,000.
The gaming industry pays £3 million a year into a trust in the
UK to deal with the problems of gambling addiction. The British
Medical Association is calling for more money to be ploughed
into research for the prevention of gambling addictions and make
treatment widely accessible to all those who need help and
lobbyists are calling for strict controls of the online casinos.
Across the Atlantic, the US is trying to amend the laws in place
to ban online casinos completely. Currently it is illegal to run
an online casino in the US but gamblers use online casinos as
there are loopholes in the current US law in place.
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