The sports betting and lottery industry is worth a massive $200 billion worldwide and set to increase year on year as more people develop a taste for a flutter. Although this kind of betting is illegal in a few countries, in other areas, betting on events like horse races, football matches and tennis is incredibly popular.
The changing landscape of sport bettingIn the past, betting on a sports event would require you to either visit a betting shop, make a telephone call or, place your wager with a bookmaker at the actual event. In the early 1990s, the internet offered a new way of betting on sports and many people sailed online to place bets using their PCs and laptops. Since then, of course, there are even more ways of placing bets online, including tablets and mobile phones and, it’s the mobile phone that we’re going to be looking at in this article.
It’s thought that over 50% of gamblers use their mobile phones to place bets online either through an app or on a website. Many gambling companies have been rushing out to capitalise on this by introducing apps and making their websites mobile optimised - not to mention, using SMS and Messenger to send appealing advertising to users. For many customers, the convenience of being able to place bets at any time and, from wherever they may, is extremely attractive. This has become such big business that many new partnerships have been formed, including that between Vox Media and Draftkings. In most instances, these apps are quick and easy to instal and users need little more than an email address and a debit card in order to place bets.
Responsible gamblingWhile lots of bookmakers and gambling companies are falling over themselves to take advantage of increased mobile phone use, others take a different view. Apple’s founder, the late Steve Jobs, was said to be insistent that porn apps would not be permitted in the Apple App Store - something which still stands, 11 years after his death. Apple is committed to responsibility across the entire business and, it seems that sport betting apps may be next on its hit list. It’s thought that the bigwigs at Apple are taking a closer look at the use of apps for gambling as more and more headlines warn of the dangers of problem gambling. In the UK alone, it’s said that around 1.4 million people suffer from some form of gambling or betting addiction - something which can lead to debt, lost jobs and even suicide. Organisations such as Gambling Aware have been working tirelessly to raise awareness of problem gambling and to offer help for addicts. As awareness increase, more and more governments are urging gambling companies to adopt responsible gambling by adding safety measures and reducing advertising on outlets such as social media.
Director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling, Felicia Grondin, says, ‘It is an epidemic in the making It has been easy to understand the impact: Before the summer of summer of 2018 (when sports betting was legalised in New Jersey), about 3% of the calls to my organization’s helpline for problem gamblers were from people who said they had sports betting problems - now that number is around 17%.
Policing the gamblersSince Apple began examining gambling activity, it’s rumoured that Google is following suit - and if these two giants take a stand against gambling apps, it’s almost certain that other companies will follow - but what does that mean?There are plenty of people who feel that it is absolutely the responsibility of tech and gambling companies to police activity and to encourage responsible gambling. Some of the major bookmakers are also very active in this - Entertain, Flutter, William Hill and Bet365 all pay 1% of their profits to gambling charities to help addicts to get the help that they need.
On the other side, there are also gambling companies - and gambling customers - who feel that adults should be free to make their own decisions when it comes to betting, without being policed by companies and organisations. One gambler said, I don’t necessarily think Apple or Google should prevent me from betting on sports. And I don’t think sports betting is necessarily worse than many other vices or risky behaviors I can engage in on my phone right now. Seamless makes it way too easy for me to order more comfort food than I should, and Drizzly lets me buy whiskey without putting on pants’.
Another solution
While there are two distinct camps as outlined above, there are also those who take a more measured stance. Many feel that, while sporting apps should be allowed on all devices, there should be more opt ins and sign offs and other features which pop up before a user can actually place a bet. While this may be a good idea in theory, the downside is that these things will almost certainly slow down the process of betting - which may be counter-productive when the main appeal of gambling on mobile phones is that it’s fast and convenient.
ConclusionAs with any addiction, gambling can be devastating for sufferers and their families and, the occasional flutter here are there can quickly escalate into a full blown problem. There is particular concern at the moment about the number of children and young people who are taking part in sports betting online, in sport betting,
kaszino online and on their phones. While this is certainly a problem which needs to be addressed - and more help needs to be made available for addicts, the jury is still out on who is responsible for problem gamblers. Adding more restrictions to gambling apps and sites may be the responsible thing to do but, it may also be responsible for turning off customers who will simply scroll away to another site - something that no betting business wants to do when the point of their business is to get more customers and to make more profits. -
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