Internet 'not to blame for something', shocka

GAMBLING EXPERTS are baffled that predictions of the imminent collapse of society due to Internet gambling have proved to be complete rubbish.

A Gambling Commission report reports that the Web and other new forms of gambling introduced since 1999, have not led to misery and deprivation and that, due to a drop in National Lottery sales, the percentage of the UK population regularly taking a punt fell from 72% in 1999 to 68%. Commission chairman Peter Dean said more than 99% of adults who gambled did so harmlessly but that there were still 250,000 problem gamblers in Britain.

The survey quizzed more than 9,000 people between September 2006 and March 2007. The Commission admits it had expected to see a rise in the number of problem gamblers due to Internet betting, but that the opposite was in fact the case.

"There are a significant number of people who do gamble online [and] we've been tracking those, but as I say the overall result is there is no increase at all in problem gambling since the last survey," says Dean. µ

L'Inq
Gambling Commission