The BBC’s investigative show Panorama will air a program Sunday night on the current state of online casinos, less than a year before the Gambling Act comes into force in the United Kingdom. The program reports an average of 5.8 million people who gamble at online casino sites every month, in the months between April and September, with over 6 million in May alone. The figures, collected by market research company Nielsen/Net Ratings, are much higher than the official figures released by the government's Gambling Commission of only one million regular online casino gamblers.
The anticipated liberalization of online casino sites in the UK raises debate in the country. Gambling at online casino sites will be legal starting September 2007, and online casino operations will be legally run in the UK from that day. The Gambling Commission will regulate the industry, approve or disapprove various operations, and check for relations to organized crime, among other preventative and regulatory measures.
While the government prepares for the new online casino reality, psychologist Professor Jim Orford of Birmingham University criticized the "naïve" approach of the government in handling the phenomena. The expert predicts as many as one million a year could become addicted to online casino gambling. The British minister for sport, Richard Caborn, expressed the government stand as assuring three basic principles – protecting the vulnerable, keeping online casino sites crime free and insuring fair bets. |
