Blog Posted on 06/11/2019 | Author: Karen Macarthur
Will the rise of mobile gaming sites result in gambling issues?
One of the most impactful results of the advent and the subsequent development of the internet is the introduction of the concept of online casinos. Where people had to find a land-based casino nearby or plan an expensive holiday to enjoy casino games, online casinos provided gambling enthusiasts with improved accessibility to exciting and engaging casino games, and a medium where indulging in casino games became a lot more convenient. People today don’t even have to step out of their homes to enjoy a few hands or involved in luck-based games! And now the introduction of the concept of mobile gambling site made gambling further accessible.
The effect of mobile gaming
If we thought that online casinos were convenient, a mobile gambling site is a lot more so. With online casinos, people had to stay at home and hook up their PC or laptop to the internet and find the casino site to play a few games. This means that enthusiastic players had to make some leisure and actually allocate time to play on their systems. But the concept of mobile gambling totally removed the requirement of making time and staying at home to indulge in casino games.
Almost everyone has a smartphone today, and a mobile gambling site is designed in a way that it can be accessed by a mobile device, especially smartphones. Since we carry our smartphones with us the whole day, instead of making time for casino games and going home to play them, we actually have the ability to carry the casino games around with us. This means instead of finding leisure to play casino games we can simply play them when we have the leisure. So, in a way, mobile casino gaming made gambling a lot more accessible.
The concept of Problem Gambling
One of the most common and the most impactful problems of easy access to gambling is an addiction. This problem has become so intense, especially when the concept of casinos was first introduced a new term called Problem Gambling/Problem Gambler was created. Basically, Problem Gambling is a psychological disorder where addiction to gambling totally disrupts a person’s life. The problem becomes so debilitating that the Problem Gambler’s daily, professional and personal life is affected. This means the person stops becoming a contributing member of society.
Does the concept of mobile gambling intensify Problem Gambling?
It is true that there is no correlation between the increase in mobile gambling sites and Problem Gambling. But common sense tells us that when there is improved accessibility an existing problem can exacerbate. The basic problem with mobile gambling in relation to Problem Gambling is why it is advantageous; it can be accessed from anywhere and everywhere. When people who already have problems are presented with a 24×7, easy access to the source of the problem the only result is that they have very little chance of being able to stay in control. Thus, looking at it, having easy access to a mobile gambling site might not lead to a person becoming a problem gambler, but in case the person already has an inclination towards problem gambling the easy access and not being able to walk away from the source can worsen the problem.
Is mobile gambling more problematic than online gambling?
Though both online casinos and mobile gambling site provide easy access to casino games and convenient gambling, having access to a mobile gambling site can be more dangerous to Problem Gamblers. The basic issue here is, with online gambling people are forced to leave their computer and their house for daily tasks like work and errands, etc. But since smartphones and thus access to a mobile gambling site is always present the problem with Problem Gambling can intensify with mobile gambling. So, in a way we have to say that mobile casino games and mobile casinos are more problematic compared to their online counterparts.
Is there a solution to this problem?
As with any addiction, the solution to the problem is self-control. As with most problems the responsibility of dealing with it is generally pushed onto the person suffering from the problem. But recently, with better licensing and regulation, Gaming Associations and regulatory bodies are insisting that online as well as mobile casinos do their part when it comes to Problem Gambling. Every mobile gambling site is now required to provide players with ample resources to learn about and practise responsible gambling.
