Dr. Tobias Hayer led the study funded by the legal committee of Deutscher Lotto- und Totoblock (German lottery and pools organization). He is a member of the working group for gambling research within the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Bremen and is one of the most well-known German gambling researchers. “By means of our systematic literature analysis, we were able to view and assess the international findings on the addiction dangers associated with online gambling in a structured manner. We found a total of 63 studies on this topic that were published in recognized scientific journals in the last ten years.”
Most of the stated studies – 48 of 63 – proved an increased danger potential and particular addiction dangers of online gambling. In comparison to offline gambling, online gambling has, amongst other things, a larger proportion of problem gamblers.
Science Warrants Noticeable Regulation by the State
“In our opinion, the scientific findings warrant generally noticeable interference of the state when it comes to the regulation of online gambling, which may even include the prohibition of some game segments (for example, all types of online casino games),” summarizes Tobias Hayer. His Hamburg colleague Dr. Jens Kalke adds: “The individual online gambling forms could then be approved one at a time (starting with the forms with less potential risk) and this could be done with the accompaniment of scientific evaluation research. If online-specific risks come to light for these online gambling forms then prohibitions for the more dangerous gambling forms must be assessed.”
Hayer, Tobias, Girndt, Lydia & Kalke, Jens (2019). Das Gefährdungspotenzial von Online-Glücksspielen: Eine systematische Literaturanalyse. (The Risk Potential of Online Gambling: A Systematic Analysis) Bremen: University of Bremen. Download available at www.tobha.de/Publikationen.htm. The authors hold all usage rights.
Further Information:
www.tobha.de (in German only)
www.uni-bremen.de
Contact:
Dr. phil. Dipl.-Psych. Tobias Hayer
University of Bremen
Faculty 11: Human and Health Sciences / Gambling Research
Phone: +49 (0)421/218-68708
Email: tobhaprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
