19 Oct 2006
One of the key arguments those who oppose online gambling make is that online casinos make it too easy for those who are prone to gambling addictions to play games and continue their habit. Unfortunately for the online gambling industry, this is one argument that is pretty accurate. But is that the whole story? Actually, the answer is "No, that isn't the whole story." Online gambling sites, if they pay attention and take proper measures, could do a whole lot to ensure that no one can accuse them of perpetuating a bad addiction.
A way that online gambling companies could do this would be by creating not another regulatory commission of their own, but a sort of "approved gambler" watchdog group which assigns online gamblers a certain key or passcode that must be continually evaluated and monitored. Before you could gamble at an online gambling site, you'd have to fill out a questionnaire putting forward a series of questions which would at the end present you with a profile that would either qualify you or disqualify you from getting a gambling membership key.
Of course, it is highly unlikely that such a regulatory body for gamblers themselves would be as accurate or effective as many people would otherwise think it to be. Lacking such a thing, the most that gambling sites can do right now is monitor the gambling habits of their members and take the high road when someone appears to be gambling too much online in erratic patterns that suggest he or she is not of sound mind and body to be sufficiently capable of legally gambling online - however much over the legal gambling age they are.
