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Message: [QUOTE="OzExorcist, post: 1734509, member: 23910"] FWIW problem gambling [I]is[/I] a real problem and it's an issue that's going to come up time and time again as the legalisation debate continues. The people who bring it up can't simply be dismissed as ignorant because the reality is that it's an issue that needs to be addressed. JQ's argument in the comments to this article is a good one: people can develop dangerous addictions to all kinds of things but in most cases instead of being banned they're regulated (some aren't even that). The case can also be made that with regulation some of the problem gambling issues could be mitigated. Sites could be forced to provide more facilities to help problem gamblers and to advertise their availability more strongly. At the moment I think most sites have voluntary lockouts but they're buried inside a mound of different options and I suspect many people don't even know the option exists. Sites could be forced to ask all players if they want to set a stop loss limit or caps on deposits within a certain time period. They could be forced to advertise gambler's help services more strongly. Measures like these won't stop all problem gambling but they'll definitely help some people and it's within the power of regulators to make them happen. Without regulation I doubt we'll ever see them because there's no real upside for the sites in providing them. If sites were regulated and had to pay taxes and licensing fees a portion of the amount received could also be used to fund problem gambling services. At the moment the problem exists but it doesn't contribute any money to the solution. My point is unless arguments like the one in this article are refuted clearly, sensibly and logically people [B]will [/B]listen to them. Knowing that they're ignorant won't be any help to us if legalised online poker gets sunk because of them - we need to educate them, to change their minds, and we can't do that if we just write them off as ignorant. [/QUOTE]

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