Internet Gambling: Preliminary Results of the First U.K. Prevalence Study

Abstract

Technology has always played a role in the development of gambling practices, and new technologies such as Internet gambling may provide many people with their first exposure to the world of gambling. Further to this, Internet gambling could be argued to be more psychologically enticing than previous non-technological incarnations of gambling because of anonymity, accessibility and interactivity. This paper reports on the results of the first U.K. study of Internet gambling; 2098 people were interviewed for their behaviour and attitudes. Results indicated that only 1% of Internet users (n=495) had ever gambled on the Internet and that there was no evidence of problematic gambling behaviour associated with the Internet.