Are Aussie Gamblers Out of Control?
Recently released figures from the Tasmanian State Gaming Commission led the anti-gambling ranks to charge that the Australian gambling industry and its players are "out of control." Leading the charge was Reverend Tim Costello, who told NineMSN, "There is no question that there is an unprecedented experiment on people with addictive products that doesn't happen anywhere else in the world."
The figures show that Australians lost AU$13.3 billion (US$6.78 billion) during the last fiscal year. This breaks down to about AU$931 (US$475) per person. In addition, gambling turnover rose 10 percent in 1999/2000, reaching $113 billion. Australians spent about 3.5 percent of their disposable income for gambling activities during this time period.
Link Found Between Cocaine, Gambling Addiction
A study of 900 adults, 512 of whom are drug users undergoing treatment for their addiction, shows that those addicted to cocaine are at least two times as likely to also suffer from serious gambling problems compared to those who aren't dependent upon cocaine, reported Reuters Health. The study, conducted by the St. Louis, Missouri-based Washington University School of Medicine, showed additionally that 27 percent of the participants who were in drug treatment were also problem gamblers, while 14 percent of
the group were found to suffer from the more serious "pathological gambling disorder" (PGD).
One of the study's authors added, "We also found that the greater the severity of the cocaine addiction, the greater was the risk for PGD. Cocaine abusers who are African-American, male, have antisocial personality disorder and are more highly educated are at an increased risk for gambling disorders."
Internet Addiction Costs Big Money
Internet addicted employees are costing businesses millions of dollars, an international expert told attendees at a recent Australian conference on problems in the workplace. Dr. James Fearing, the president and CEO of National Counseling Intervention Services & Executive Health Systems USA, said that using the Internet can be as addictive as gambling, reports the AAP. "It is similar to gambling in one sense in that it is more of a psychological addiction. It is almost like a craving in the brain where
people stay on the Internet," he said. Fearing added, "I believe companies are losing millions and millions of dollars because of the impact of the productivity of the people." As a result, numerous companies have laid off employees for spending too much work time surfing the Internet for non-work related reasons. He suggested that between three million and 11 million people in the U.S. suffer from this type of addiction.
Online Population to Double in Size, E-Commerce Will Thrive
New findings from ActivMedia Research indicate that the world's online population is likely to double again this year, reaching well over 400 million. Researchers say that this growth, alongside website formation and 50 percent or higher e-commerce growth rates reported in another ActivMedia study, demonstrates that solid online business plans can thrive online, even while less substantial endeavors are failing. "Year after year, the research continues to demonstrate that simply creating a website for e-commerce alone isn't where real success lies," Chris Anne Wheeler, ActivMedia's vice president of info services, said. "Success comes to those companies that learn the value of an online presence to the entire organization. Overall, when companies see the Internet as a new communications platform and commerce channel, it takes its rightful place among the other traditional means of doing business." Further details are included in the firm's study, "Real Numbers 2001."
TLDs Losing Ground To Secondary Names
Despite their prominence on the Web, TLD (Top Level Domain) names are starting to lose their luster. A new survey published by SnapNames.com, points out that companies that built their business plans around the sale of TLDs--website addresses ending in ".com," ".org," or ".net"-- are finding more money in the sale of secondary domain names. The secondary names are comprised of those listings that were previously registered but are about to expire and drop back into the pool of available names.
According to SnapNames, the number of domain name deletions today exceeds
70 percent of new domain names sold in the ".com," ".net" and ".org" TLDs, and that ratio is increasing by over 15 percent per month. An average of 25,000 names per day are deleted and are returned to the pool of available names, while about 35,000 new names are purchased each day. Six months ago only a few thousand were deleting while over 60,000 new names were being sold.