SASK - On Line Gambling and Problem Gambling Review 117th Edition
The Problem Gambling Community Program purpose is to strengthen the
capacity of communities to respond to the negative impacts of
gambling. The program works in collaboration with Saskatchewan Health
to assist in the delivery of the public education and community
development components of Saskatchewan’ s problem gambling program.
Bill Ursel
Director
WTO Skirmish, Help Line Calls Soar, Youth and Scale
Validation and Poker and `Luck’
1) Divine Intervention: British Bill Challenged
The Archbishop of Canterbury cast a crucial vote March 28 when he
turned up with other bishops in the House of Lords to speak against
the government’s proposals for a supercasino in Manchester - which
were defeated by just three votes.
Speaking in the House of Lords for the first time since May of 2006,
Rowan Williams said of the government’s plans for a supercasino in
Manchester: “Sadly, the general impression that has been given is of a
piece of inadequately monitored social experimentation. ”
(Thanks to Steve Christensen for passing on this link . . . )
2) WTO Ruling Muddies Waters Again
In a judgment published late on March 30 the World Trade Organization
(WTO) ruled that the unilateral prohibition imposed by the US on
offshore Internet gambling is illegal.
It was back in 1995 when the US government first promised the
international organization that it would open-up its gambling industry
to competition. However, under extreme lobbying pressure from powerful
interests in places such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City, for the next
ten years nothing was done to fulfill the pledge.
Ed. Note: It seems that the United States will simply continue to
ignore the WTO rulings. The American challenge remains what to do
with their own Pandora’s Box of the Internet Gambling Prohibition and
Enforcement Act (now under a host of various names; hotly debated in
many corners) Current name, UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act).
The gambling industry is especially watching the United Kingdom, whose
Gambling Act of 2005 comes into full force September 2007. The
Gambling Act will allow online companies to be located and licensed in
the UK or alternately to remain offshore but apply for a UK operating
license.
When the UIGEA was passed, many large UK-registered gaming companies
lost their US customers and consequently took a huge loss in book
value. So UK officials may be pressed by the many UK-based gaming
companies to work with the WTO to assure ‘free trade’ to win back the
business of US customers.
The Full WTO report “UNITED STATES – MEASURES AFFECTING THE
CROSS-BORDER SUPPLY OF GAMBLING AND BETTING SERVICES” may be viewed at
. . .
http://tinyurl.com/2rjeac
3) Britain: Help Line Call Numbers Up
GamCare, a charity that counsels people with gambling problems, has
published its annual care services report, which shows that more than
30,240 calls were made to its help line last year - a 33.9% increase
on 2005.
Adrian Scarfe, GamCare head of clinical services, urges caution in the
interpretation of the figures: “The increase may be because more
people are getting to know about our services, or it could be that
media interest has lowered the barrier to people seeking support. The
debate about the issue has helped public awareness of gambling.”
4) Discontinuation of Gambling: Scale Validation
The report by Kelli-an Lawrance, Ph.D., Andrew Dane, Ph.D., John
Yardley, Ph.D.,
Lisa Root, M.Sc. and Jennifer McPhee, M.Sc. offers information related
to youth who gamble responsibly and those who are at risk. The
authors note that . . .
“results from this study are intended to provide clinicians and
researchers with additional
information about the differences between youth who gamble responsibly
and those who are at-risk for developing a gambling problem or
gambling problematically. These results may be subsequently used to
guide the development of education, prevention, and treatment
interventions, and may suggest how and when to effectively introduce
risk reduction and brief intervention strategies aimed at reducing
youth problem gambling.”
5) Regression and Luck
Dr. Tim Lavalli tells us that “Regression toward the mean is the
tendency for any series mathematical events to average out. This
simply means that events like extreme tests scores or terrible river
suckouts or ‘holes-in-one’ tend to happen rarely and when seen as a
mathematical average this makes logical sense.”
He also shares a `semi scientific’ test to make his point; he is aided
by a group of avid poker players.
