Support for Hong Kong Soccer Betting Increases
The post-World Cup sentiment to legalize soccer betting in Hong Kong has seen increasing support, as is documented by a July survey conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies.
The Institute interviewed 851 people and compared the results with a survey compiled in March 2002. The recent study shows that 66.5 percent of the population support the legalization of soccer betting--an increase of 11 percent. Additionally, the number of people opposed to the legislation has declined from 35.8 percent in March to 27.6 percent in July.
When asked their opinion on whether legalization of soccer betting would cause a betting "spree," 56.3 percent said it definitely will not, 26.7 percent said it probably will and 14 percent said it definitely would.
"Society may worry that legalization will result in a gambling spree and pathological gamblers after legalization of football betting. ... If the government can at the same time work out some ancillary measures to ease people's worry, the legislation move will more likely be accepted," said survey director Timothy Wong.
Ontario Problem Gambling Center Releases Productive Two-Year Report
The Year II Progress Report recently released by the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre (OPGRC) is evidence of a program making positive strides in the treatment of problem gambling.
Some of the notable developments of the OPGRC program include attracting 10 new researchers from various fields to aide in the studies conducted by the organization. The first completed study was "Measuring Gambling and Problem Gambling in Ontario," which found that 340,000 Ontarians exhibit moderate to severe gambling problems. The highest concentration of these problem gamblers was in the 18-24 age range.
In the first two years of the OPGRC, 13 studies were funded to the tune of CA$2.4 million. Adolescent gambling was the focus of five of the 13 studies. Other issues that will be studied by the Centre include gambling revenue demographics, links between sports and gambling and combining medication and cognitive therapy in problem gambling treatment.
Connecticut Gambling Research to Use MRI Exams
Members of the University of Connecticut's Gambling Treatment and Research Center are undertaking to determine if pathological gamblers' brains are different from non-gamblers and are using MRI technology to accomplish this goal.
Nancy Petry, an associate professor at the University, said this area of study has been ignored for the most part and could provide better ways to evaluate gambling addiction treatments.
"I was just shocked nobody had looked at it," she said.
Petry noted statistics about the Connecticut population's gambling habits. Researchers at the university have found that about 1.6 percent of that state's gamblers are pathological or will be in their lifetime and a further 3 percent are classified as heavy gamblers by losing between $100-$500 per month.
Researchers there also noted that since the advent of legal gambling in the state in the 1980s, increasing proportions of women gamblers have surfaced. Whereas it used to be 95 percent of gamblers in the state were men, now about 60 percent of the state's gamblers are women.
Mobile Gaming Continues to Thrive
Mobile games company Digital Bridges has reported that WAP games are becoming more and more popular.
In the past 18 months, gamers have spent 70 million minutes playing that company's WAP games, the most popular of which are the virtual pet-type games on mobile phones. Other popular games are Star Trek and FIFA World Cup-style games.