New Jersey online gambling to be studied by local university

Rutgers University has announced the start of a three-year intensive research study on the impact in New Jersey of online gambling and ancillary problems, reports the publication NJ.com.

University spokesmen said the study will evaluate how Internet gambling particularly affects problematic or addictive behaviours.

“New Jersey is one of only US three states where Internet gambling is legal,” said Lia Nower, professor and director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers’ School of Social Work.

“But i-gaming is a new frontier and no one knows quite what to expect.”

The state of New Jersey has put up $1.2 million for the study.

“Unlike [land] casino gambling, people don’t have to travel or make time to gamble on the Internet,” said Nower, the principal investigator on the study, which begins in January 2015.

“You can bet from your iPad at the breakfast table or on your work computer or on your phone at your kid’s soccer game. And you’re not handling cash so the money doesn’t seem real.

“Our studies will identify what type of person chooses this very private form of gambling, who develops problems, and how those problems are different from other forms of legalized gambling,” she added.

NJ.com recalls that a study published last month by the academic journal Addictive Behaviors indicated that people who mixed both in-person and Internet gambling were the most likely to show addictive problems.

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