Is Online Gambling all Good Fun or Unnecessary Expenditure?

Online gambling has boomed in the past few years and the industry is at an all-time high. This all seems to be positive but are the effects on the average player making this a costly exchange? According to studies, almost two thirds of us bet each year, but this doesn’t always mean that we have the money to spare.

With the current economic climate as it is, we’re pinching pennies in almost every area of day to day life. The average household in the UK will spend £166 per year on betting in all its forms. This figure was reported by the Office for National Statistics in 2014, and this only seems to be on the rise.

Gambling comes in so many forms, from purchasing a scratch card at the petrol station to playing games online. Many forms, such as the lottery, don’t even resonate as gambling with some users. These small wagers all add up however and this means that the industry is making money hand over fist.

Mainstream gambling makes up a huge percentage of this revenue. Casual gambling like playing on online casinos that are featured on turboluck.com makes this industry a lot more accessible. The person that would play on bingo sites is very different to those that would spend a day in the bookies and this industry an effectively target both.

There is a very real cost to online gambling however. Problem gambling costs the UK government a massive amount each year. Those that can’t control their wagers are often supplemented with emergency funds, housing and therapy. This in turn uses up tax payer’s money and can be a contributing factor to rising taxation.

Younger people are becoming ever more valuable to this industry, though it may because they have poorer impulse control. They could be more likely to gamble to extinction and will also be more likely to have more devices to access betting sites with. Smartphones and tablets are increasingly being used to gamble online and this means you’re never more than a few moments away from accessing a site.

The cost of this in later life can also be quite substantial too. Getting into a habit early in life can have long standing effects as the individual can start on a cycle of destructive behaviour. Studies show that the presence of literature and responsible gambling messages is at a peak however. We are bombarded with these kinds of messages and the industry is being very heavily regulated.

The option to self-exclude from these sites is also becoming more sophisticated. Operators are working together to create a service that allows a user to ban themselves from all sites in one process. This is easier than excluding from each site and can take away the risk of relapsing.

As long as we have this kind of regulation and helpful information in place, there are fewer risks that are involved in offering gambling. The UK market for gambling is one of the most highly policed in the world and this shows in the relatively low risk to players. The industry as a whole is motivated to keep the practice of gambling light hearted and fun, rather than creating a stigma around their offerings.

So what’s next for this industry? Aside from changing their tactics for targeting gamblers, they mostly want to appear friendly and above board. Leaps onto social media and trends allow them to do just that, though most users will still remember that they’re dealing with a corporation. We’ll most likely see these companies get even bigger, though if the government decides the cost is too high then they will make changes as they see fit.