Is is gambling or a game? Simulated gambling. Interview with AIFS Senior Research Fellow Dr Anna Thomas Australian Gambling Research Centre What is simulated gambling?
Simulated gambling is games that look and feel just like gambling, but there isn’t the ability to bet, win or lose money. What are the concerns with simulated gambling? There are some key concerns around simulated gambling or gambling-like games. These games can make people feel that gambling really is just like a normal game and really doesn’t involve any kind of harm, where we know that gambling can actually result in quite severe harms http://casino-games.my/casino/. In addition, these types of games actually allow people to experience the rewards of winning without feeling the pains of losses, and that can set up an illusion for people that they may actually have more chance of winning and that their skills from games can translate over to gambling. And when you are thinking about games like slot machine, gambling, there is no skill-base in these games. So it can really set up a belief in people that they’re going to be more successful with these games, with gambling, when they transfer over from games than they will in fact be. What does the research tell us about simulated gambling? The research in terms of simulated gambling, or gambling-like games, is really very much in its infancy, but what we do know already is that around 20% of people who play these types of games will actually transfer over to gambling, so will move from the games over to gambling. And some of the reason they’ll do this is to win money, and because they feel that they’ve been able to practice with the games and now are ready to try out gambling. And one of the other things we know about, from the research, is that people who transfer over from the games to gambling are more likely to have gambling problems. We don’t know as yet whether that means that the games are leading people to gambling and possibly into gambling problems or whether it’s just that people who are heavily into gambling and may have gambling problems also like these type of games. What are the research gaps? There’s lots of things we are still yet to know about gambling-like games or simulated gambling. We really don’t know that much, as yet, about how it might normalise gambling for people who are playing those games, when it might lead to particularly risky play and risky gambling. And we still don’t know a lot about the pathways between the games and gambling. We know that people, some people move from the games over to gambling and for some other people, they move from gambling back into games. So there may actually be some protective features around some of these gambling-like games, but we really don’t know that much about those sort of really, why people might play those games and when it becomes risky for them. Why do people play these games? There’s lots of reasons people play simulated gambling games or gambling-like games. A lot of the motivations are actually quite similar to the motivations for gambling. So people do it as a form of entertainment, because they think it’s fun, it’s exciting, it can be a challenge for them. There’s also for some people they’ll find it relieves boredom or actually allows them to escape from thinking about some of their problems. These last two are some of the motivations that we know are associated with risky gambling and so potentially could be a problem if people shift from games over to gambling. What groups are at risk of harm? We really don’t know much about who is most at risk from playing these types of games. We know that there is a proportion of people who move from the games over to gambling and we know that people who are experiencing problems with their gambling are more likely to be playing these games. But we don’t as yet know whether one is causing the other and we really don’t know much at all about who might be most at risk and why they might be most at risk, in terms of potential gambling issues from playing these games. Are there regulations in place for simulated gambling games? There is very little regulation that is actually occurring around gambling like games. And what does exist is really quite inconsistent and in many ways inadequate. There is very little information to inform parents or players of games as to the potential risks involved in these games or the likelihood if they move across from games to gambling. And the regulations that are in place are inconsistent across the different platforms and different types of games that are being played.
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AuthorSamantha Black is author of this blog. She is from New York. Samantha is a passionate reader, professional novelist and writer. She likes Yoga, traveling and swimming. ArchivesCategories |