Yet Another Poll Regarding I-Gaming
The Canberra Times asked its readers last week, "Should the government ban Internet gambling?" At the time IGN accessed the results, 117 readers had responded:
- Yes - 50 percent
- No - 48 percent
- Unsure - 3 percent
Gambling Brings in the Dollars for NSW Govt.
The New South Wales government, despite placing a freeze on new poker machines, will see an increase in gambling tax monies over the next four years. According to numbers released with the latest NSW state budget, the state reaped $734 million in taxes during 2000-2001 from club and pub gaming devices. Although this amount is less than the $955 million received the previous year, the dip was attributed to tax revenues given up as part of an agreement with the federal government that provided general sales tax (GST) to the states. The NSW government forecasts receiving $907 million from the gambling machines by the 2004-2005 tax year. The government bases its estimate on gamblers having more disposable income to use for gambling activities.
Gambling Provides Reward to the Brain
A recently published study on gambling addiction shows that there may be a biological link to the affliction. The report, published in science journal Neuron, says that prize money seems to activate many of the same reward areas in the brain that are activated by food or drugs. "This work argues that we can begin to dissect the systems that process, reward and organize behavior in humans," one of the report's authors said.
In an experiment that measured the brain activity of volunteers, subjects were given $50 to gamble with; the volunteers were told they could lose their entire stake or keep any winnings. With that in mind, the subjects then played a spinning game that paid up to $10 for each winning spin or cost as much as $6 per losing spin. The subjects' brain activity was measured while they played the game. The results indicated that there was a corresponding response in certain brain areas. "The results showed that an incentive unique to humans--money--produced patterns of brain activity that closely resembled patterns seen previously in response to other types of rewards," the author said. "This similarity suggests that common brain circuitry is used for various types of rewards."
Slovaks Hit the World Wide Web
A Taylor Nelso Sofres poll conducted in April among 900 to 1,000 Slovakian residents shows that 23.8 Slovaks regularly access the Internet, reported Bratislava. This number has jumped from last year, when the group found in October 2000 that 16.9 percent went online regularly and that only 12.1 percent did so in May 2000. Additionally, the number of occasional users has increased from 9.3 percent last May to 12.6 percent last October to 18.6 in April 2001. The poll also reveals that 82.9 percent of Slovaks, as of April, had heard of the Internet. This statistic was up from 78.2 percent last October and 72.9 percent in May 2000.
Government Outpaces Traditional Sales Sites
Want to buy a helicopter? How about a Lamborghini Diablo sports car, a decommissioned Coast Guard cutter or a four-year-old wild horse? The government may have one to sell you on the Internet. With sales that exceed those of large Web retailers such as Amazon.com, federal agencies are increasingly using e-commerce to pitch wares, from luxury items seized by law enforcement to military surplus goods to plain old documents. In all, federal agencies took in $3.6 billion in online sales last year, according to a survey released Sunday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and Federal Computer Week magazine. The lion's share--$3.3 billion--came from the Treasury Department's sale of bonds and notes. An additional $300 million involved a wide array of items so eclectic that it surprised even the researchers.