The potential addiction risk of Texas Hold`em Online-Poker
In cooperation with GAMING LAW REVIEW AND ECONOMICS, the TIME Law News edition 01/2013 of Hambach & Hambach law firm is pleased to point you to the article: Measuring and Evaluating the Potential Addiction Risk of the Online Poker Game Texas Hold’em No Limit, published in GAMING LAW REVIEW AND ECONOMICS, Volume 16, Number 12, 2012: (paper free until 12 February 2013)
The article presents the results of the corresponding study, which has been empirically validated by inter-disciplinary experts.
The key result of the study is the classification of the potential addiction risk of Texas Hold’em poker as medium, which is in the same level as sports betting.
The study’s findings raise questions about the need for pan-European regulation of poker. It also adds to doubts regarding the consistency and coherence of German gambling regulation.
While the most northern German state Schleswig-Holstein has already licensed more than twenty online casino operators, including the leading online poker providers, the new German Interstate Treaty on Gambling still stipulates a legal ban of online casino games. The ban includes online-poker, and thereby leaves this huge market unregulated. Furthermore, the inconsistent national regulatory frameworks for online-poker in the EU leave players and providers “with a high degree of legal uncertainty” [regarding the implications of this scenario, see article on FCJ’s referral to the ECJ, page 2 of this TIME Law News].
The study points out that despite an online-poker ban, Germany has become the second largest online-poker market worldwide. As a consequence of the ban and the inconsistent national regulatory frameworks for online-poker in the EU, players are “forced” into grey or black markets, which is detrimental not only to the fight against gambling addiction and money laundering, but also to the states’ ability to raise tax revenues.
The study’s results call for an unbiased review of the level of regulation for the online gambling market and the online-poker market in particular. The study hopefully makes some European and German politicians re-consider strong positions against the regulation of online-poker on both the national and EU levels.
Politician or not, TIME Law News highly recommends the article to all interested readers http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/glre.2012.16125 (paper free until 12 February 2013)
To find out more and to visit the link for a paper free version until 12 February 2013 please visit Hambach & Hambach
