Global public health commission questions impact of online gaming expansion
The commission is comprised of academic experts from around the globe.
Key Points
- The report says online gaming could negatively impact public health
- It went on to say that not enough regulations are in place
A public health group has released research claiming that online gambling can have a negative impact on public health, according to a recent NBC News report.
The Lancet, a medical journal, has convened a public health commission on gambling made up of 22 members. The commission released the report, which “reviewed existing studies and surveys on gambling’s prevalence, impacts and harms.”
According to the report’s findings, the commission’s panel of academic experts from 12 counties found that “current regulations do not go far enough to protect the public and need to be strengthened.”
University of New South Wales professor and epidemiology lead of the commission Louisa Degenhardt told NBC News, “We’re not talking about people playing a game with cards around the table anymore.
“Many people might be really experiencing harms from gambling — we think that it’s probably around 72 million people globally. That number is likely to increase, as we are seeing the increase in commercial organizations targeting people to gamble more.”
Since the Supreme court repealed its federal ban on sports betting in 2018, nearly 40 states along with the District of Columbia have opened legal sports betting markets.
Though iGaming is expanding around the world, including in Latin American regions like Brazil, states in the US have raised concerns regarding what effects iGaming could have on other legal gambling markets.
Good to know: Seven US states offer some form of legal internet gaming
Those states include Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Connecticut.
Several states have hit the pause button on iGaming, claiming the industry could cannibalize brick-and-mortar casino revenue and cost workers their jobs.
However, not everyone agrees with this concern or with its supporting research.
Trade association iDEA Growth recently published research that addresses a NERA study on the impact New Jersey iGaming has had on the state.
The NERA study, which was released last year, examined the economic impact of iGaming on the Garden State and found that legalized online gaming “resulted in a $2bn boost to New Jersey’s economy from 2013 through 2018.”
However, iDEA Growth said that NERA’s findings were “erroneous” and were “found to be based on flawed and limited assumptions and analysis, severely underestimates the financial benefits iGaming brings to the State.”
The group went on to note that existing research backs up the claim that legal iGaming “does not cannibalize revenue from brick-and-mortar casinos or other entertainment sectors.”
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