On a pleasant weekday afternoon in Nottingham, the dark side of gambling seems a million miles away.
Chris Maskill, manager of the Stakis Regency Casino in Nottingham and proponent of responsible gambling, looks over his domain with pride. "You see those ladies?" He points to two pensioners sipping tea. "They met here. Now they pop in most days. Not to gamble, particularly, but for the company, the social life."
For Chris - who has worked in the gaming industry for 22 years - gambling is a legitimate and rapidly growing form of entertainment, part of a worldwide trend. The popularity of the National Lottery has dissolved much of the stigma once attached to betting in the UK. Now, 91% of adults and 75% of adolescents enjoy the occasional flutter, regular betting or even serious gambling. But, in the murkier corners of the web, a more threatening world is developing.
Statistically, 3% of adults, and double that number of teenagers who gamble, slip into compulsive or problem gambling. And the most dangerous, totally unregulated, utterly accessible, wonderfully enticing form of gambling is waiting for you and your family in your living room, on your computer screen.
The punters at Mr Maskill's casino must become members 24 hours before they start gambling, provide proof of age and set up an acceptable form of payment guaranteed by their bank or use cash. Gambling on credit or by credit cards is illegal, as is drinking alcohol while betting. Inebriated or disturbed guests are asked to leave, as are those whose banks have notified Mr Maskill that they are in financial difficulty. But if you switch on your computer and access the Altavista home page, you'll find a charming advert for the Casino On The Net. In 20 minutes, you can download their software, click on an agreement promising you are over 18 years of age, resident in a country or state where gambling is legal, make a financial arrange ment with your credit card and start gambling.
Everything, except the validity of your credit card number, will be taken at face value. Sports and event betting, horse racing, lotteries, bingo, and scratch cards are available, 24 hours a day, everyday of the year from over 5,000 sites, which grossed approximately $631m in 1998, double that of 1997.
If internet auctions and stock trading, particularly day trading, are considered gambling, the total rises to well over a billion dollars and will continue to rise.
Dr Mark Griffiths, reader in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, specialises in gambling and technological addictions. He believes unregulated gaming on the net has enormous potential for harm to vulnerable sections of the community, particularly underage gamblers, individuals with alcohol or drug problems and those whose psychological makeup predisposes them to various forms of addiction.
"When you increase access, you increase uptake; the number of problem users automatically rises as uptake rises. Las Vegas has the highest number of problem gamblers in the world, 7-8%. Most gambling is well regulated but the internet has no boundaries and no way of stopping unsuitable users.
"There have already been several cases of school children stealing their parents' credit cards and gambling on school computers. Furthermore, gambling on credit produces suspension of judgement about money. E-cash seems unreal, so bettors overspend, raising their limits when they should not do so.
"Add on the social isolation, the continuous availability and it's a natural fit for the compulsive gambler."
His concerns are echoed by Gamcare, the gambling research and education organisation, and other specialists in the field, such as Gamblers Anonymous ( Info@gambleranonymous.co.uk) . Because of our high telephone rates, internet use in the UK lags behind much of the technologically developed world and internet gambling isn't a major problem so far.
But Gamcare www.gamcare.org.uk already has experience of casualties, particularly in the area of spread betting, betting on the points scored in an athletic or sporting contest.
Other countries, such as the USA and Australia, have far more experience of the internet and are confronting the problem head on, in totally different ways.
Australia has legitimised and regulated internet betting, adopting a federalist approach with a regulatory control model on a national level allowing each state to licence the appropriate premises and games, with tax going to the player's state.
In the United States, attempts are being made to ban all forms of internet gambling.
Campaigners are backed by the religious right and the conventional gambling estab lishments, but have had little success.
Senator Jon Kyl introduced a bill in 1997 prohibiting online betting, which passed the senate by a 90-10 margin. Several factors prevented its second appearance but another, less inclusive bill will go before the legislature in early autumn.
Betting of all kinds is illegal in some states and federal law prohibits the acceptance of wagers placed over interstate telephone wires. Because of this and similar laws in other countries, including Britain, most gambling sites are located offshore, on Caribbean islands or in South American countries which license the sites for a fee, generally $100,000 - far less than it would cost to set up and license a similar business on American soil.
The US government has successfully prosecuted one site - the Antigua-based "The World Sports Exchange" - and has sequestered $800,000 of its assets. But it has been unable to arrest members of the syndicate living outside the US.
A second case was brought by the attorney-general in 1997 against the native American Coeur d'Alene tribe of Idaho claiming their online lottery violated Mississippi law. The case continues, with the native Americans maintaining their territory is a sovereign entity and not subject to federal law. If they win, many other tribes will also open online sites.
Although public opinion in the US tends to support the ban, these and other cases show the difficulty, even the impossibility, of stopping internet gambling on sites which originate outside the US, especially since the Millennium Act releases the internet service providers from liability.
To enforce prohibition, the government would have to criminalise and prosecute bettors, a legal task of immense proportions.
In Britain, most informed opinion favours legitimisation and regulation of internet gambling, seeing it as an unstoppable force. This would need an act of parliament, and the Gaming Board of Great Britain has issued a position paper outlining the situation. Camelot and other companies regard this as an important issue.
"We're a technological company," said a Camelot spokesperson, "and we're always looking at new options, but they must be approved by the government and protect the vulnerable."
Paul Wools, media partner for Manches, a firm of solicitors specialising in IT and internet law www.manches.co.uk, believes that the internet can be a magnet for the dishonest, because of the ease and cheapness of setting up a site anywhere in the world which can disappear with the customer's money, leaving no legal redress.
"Some way has to be found to make e-commerce safe, to provide consumer satisfaction and create confidence," he says, "whether it's for gambling or buying or a computer.
"If governments can't collaborate to do this, if the internet doesn't regulate itself, then it cannot flourish."
Gambling responsibly
1. Keep in mind you are buying entertainment
2. Before you gamble, set strict limits on the amount of time and money you are going to spend and stick to those limits. When the money is gone, quit.
3. Keep a running total of money won and lost.
4. Only gamble with money you can afford to lose. Never try to recoup losses.
On the internet:
1. Only gamble with an organisation you know to be genuine. Australian and New Zealand sites are probably the safest.
2. If in doubt about a gambling site, send it an email asking: Who's backing the organisation? Where is it licensed? What jurisdiction is it under?
3. Before giving your credit card number, look for the small "lock" symbol in the margin of your screen, proving this is a secure site.
4. Parents should always keep an eye on what sites their children are visiting. A regular look at the history will keep you informed.
Thomas Harper
Thomas Harper, an intelligent man in his thirties, a fan of computers and computer games, became interested in internet auctions and sports betting. At first an entertainment, they became more important, and he began spending large amounts of time online trying to recoup his losses.
He went deep into debt, using multiple credit cards, going over the limits and borrowing from every possible source. Finally, he was blackballed by the auctions and attempted suicide.
In hospital, he was cared for by a multidisciplinary team and began to pay off his debts. He became euphoric on the day he cleared them but when his mood dropped, wrote some dud checks and began gambling on the internet again. He is still in treatment.
Case studies
Jess Anderson
Jess Anderson is in her fifties with a history of alcohol abuse but had been in recovery for many years and enjoying a successful career in business management. She began playing scratch cards and lotteries, then discovered the internet lotteries and casinos which she played on her office computer for "relaxation".
She became obsessed, despite growing financial problems, and was ignoring her work. When her line manager checked her computer's history and discovered the extent of her gambling, she was fired. She has had debt counselling and was referred to Gamblers Anonymous.
