by Ryan D. Jaeger
Mark Griffiths, a professor at Nottingham Trent University, is convinced that
European governments are not doing enough research on which to base their
decisions regarding their policies on internet wagering.
Prof. Griffiths, together with British Member of Parliament, Malcom Harbour,
released a report entitled Problem Gambling in Europe: An Overview, which
was presented to the European Parliament last week.
The report looked at all the countries in Europe in a case by case format to
examine incidents of problem gambling in the particular country.
According to the report, only one third of the nations who had been included
in the survey had ever carried out comprehensive studies on gambling and - in
particular - problem gambling.
Those who had done their research on a national level included the United
Kingdom, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany and Belgium.
However, countries such as France, Hungary, Russia and Spain had only
conducted research at a local level.
Even worse off were countries such as Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and
Portugal, where absolutely nothing was known about gambling and problem gambling
at a national level.
But while Prof. Griffiths continues to produce damning reports about problem
gambling in Europe, many in the industry are not convinced regarding the
results.
Adrian Morris, Deputy Managing Director of StanleyBet, for example said: "The
debate about gambling is multi faceted. Many reasons and interpretations are put
forward as to why a particular state does or does not grand access to its market
by operators from other Member States, by they online or offline, be they
casino, betting or other type of gambling operator."
"I have become increasingly concerned that this debate is informed by little
or no information and the argumentation seems to be based on myths appealing to
emotion rather than facts informing reason and leading to policymaking.
Unfortunately, to this day, it seems that emotion continues to overrule facts,"
he said.
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