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On the plus side, on-line gambling is more
affordable than casino table games. However,
on-line gambling may offer a greater potential
for incremental betting, which could lead to
problematic play. On-line gambling offers the
potential ability to monitor gamblers in order
to detect problematic patterns of play, such as
incremental betting and frequent re-buy-ins,
which could then automatically trigger
information about problem gambling. Currently,
however, no on-line casino does this, although
Lasseter's On-line casino in Australia offers
self-selected daily betting limits. (For more
about the plus side of on-line gaming, you can
go to clubchance and look for their news,
editorials and letters, or go to and look at
their information on the basics of on-line
gaming.)
Gambling games can be divided into two
categories: games of chance, such as lotteries,
keno, craps, roulette, baccarat, bingo and
slots; and games of skill, such as horse race
betting, sports betting, poker and blackjack.
For example, playing bingo requires perceptual
and motor skills, but winning is purely a matter
of chance. In contrast, winning at poker is
dependent on skills relative to the other
players. The number of skills involved and the
long-term prospects of financial return vary for
each type of game. In Hold'em poker, skilled
players can make a decent living (Warren, 1996),
but in poker games played against the "house,"
such as Caribbean Stud Poker, players cannot
beat the house edge, regardless of how skilled
they are (Cardoza, 1997). Players of games based
on skill are more likely to be male, with the
exception of horse racing, and more likely to be
younger (Kelly et al., 2001).
The relationship between skill and problem
gambling is particular interesting. According to
data on problem gambling treatment collected in
Ontario, just over 40% of gamblers in treatment
list a game of skill as their major area of
concern (Rush & Shaw-Moxam, in press). Several
researchers have noted that problem gamblers
often have an inflated sense of their own skill
(Gadboury & Ladouceur, 1989; Toneatto,
Blitz-Miller, Calderwood, Dragonetti & Tsanos,
1997). Are problem gamblers who play games of
skill simply unskilled players? An alternative
view is that some of the "skilled" gamblers in
treatment might actually be skilled but not be
as skilled as other players.
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