CNN Article

[cowboy.up]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/20/online.gambling/index.html

Makes it seem like anyone that's ever played online can't control themselves and we're all secretly hoping the government will swoop in and save us.

[mattnxtc]

"You have a lot of individuals who are not prone to gambling without the ability of the Internet," said Ken Winters, a psychiatry professor at the University of Minnesota. "So with more people, you are going to get these new recruits who become problem gamblers."

what a dumb line..we can apply this to a lot of things...People arent going to be as prone to lookin at porn without the internet either but i dont see congress fighting to stop that

[Lawman007]

Let's outlaw booze and cigarettes then, too. College students and others become addicted to those, and they don't just break you, they can kill you. Nobody ever died from playing poker on the internet.

[TrendYourFriend]

Any online venture is going to be marketed to a younger demographic because, in general, people over 50 have a lot of misconceptions about the safety of transacting business online.

Sadly, many within the older generatations think the internet is just a series of tubes.

[The_Gunt]

I like how they hide this in the middle of the article after making online gambling sound like the next cancer,
"Even though much of the evidence cited is still anecdotal..."

Then they go on to site some more anecdotal evidence. What a joke.

[DING-DONG YO]

This article is one-sided and very poor journalism.

[ragecg]

heres the link to the quack... er... I mean doc:

http://www.hazelden.org/servlet/hazelden...p;page_id=25767 (http://www.hazelden.org/servlet/hazelden/cms/ptt/hazl_7030_shade.html?sf=t&sh=t&page_id=25767)

[jt1]

Tried to find a link to email the journalist, but no such luck. I would have thought that CNN has certain editorial standards for objectivity. They published an op-ed piece and called it news.

[va1halla]

"You have a lot of individuals who are not prone to gambling without the ability of the Internet," said Ken Winters, a psychiatry professor at the University of Minnesota. "So with more people, you are going to get these new recruits who become problem gamblers."


What a joke. I live in Minnesota and no matter where you are in the state you're about an hr or so from a B&M casino not to mention the horse track and card room about 20 min from Minneapolis. And then there is also all the lottery games in just about every gas station / convenience store in the state, and pull tabs and gambling wheels etc.... in all the bars.

[meleader2]

[ QUOTE ]
heres the link to the quack... er... I mean doc:

http://www.hazelden.org/servlet/hazelden...p;page_id=25767 (http://www.hazelden.org/servlet/hazelden/cms/ptt/hazl_7030_shade.html?sf=t&sh=t&page_id=25767)

[/ QUOTE ]

i'm writing to this fool.

[cowboy.up]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/20/online.gambling.profile/index.html

Same author, published today in regard to the 'scourge' that is online gambling...I too tried searching for her e-mail. Google turned up a journalist from the freedailypress, but I'm not 100% sure it's the same person.

[MrBrightside]

holy crap! Just an fyi, you win the most disturbing avatar movie.

[bcubed72]

[ QUOTE ]
Let's outlaw booze and cigarettes then, too. College students and others become addicted to those, and they don't just break you, they can kill you. Nobody ever died from playing poker on the internet.

[/ QUOTE ]
Agree that the article is quite biased and poor journalism, BUT...
Just to nitpick, I imagine someone, somewhere, offed themselves rather than pay up massive internet gambling debts: you know, the "I just gambled away the kids' college money and I can't bear to live w/ myself" thing.

[mattnxtc]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Let's outlaw booze and cigarettes then, too. College students and others become addicted to those, and they don't just break you, they can kill you. Nobody ever died from playing poker on the internet.

[/ QUOTE ]
Agree that the article is quite biased and poor journalism, BUT...
Just to nitpick, I imagine someone, somewhere, offed themselves rather than pay up massive internet gambling debts: you know, the "I just gambled away the kids' college money and I can't bear to live w/ myself" thing.

[/ QUOTE ]

can make this same argument for somebody who drank the money away, lost it in the stock market, spent it on luxaries they didnt need and so forth..doesnt mean we should ban those things does it?

[mrhat187]

I hate journalists who create stories out of morons. I love how the article starts out "after he had to declare bankruptcy from his scrath and win losses". This idiot is going to gamble and go broke NO MATTER WHAT. Instead of an online casino, welcome online scratch and win lottery.

[Lawman007]

[ QUOTE ]
I hate journalists who create stories out of morons. I love how the article starts out "after he had to declare bankruptcy from his scrath and win losses". This idiot is going to gamble and go broke NO MATTER WHAT. Instead of an online casino, welcome online scratch and win lottery.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point. I guess we need to outlaw lotteries, too, then.

[DrewOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/20/online.gambling.profile/index.html

Same author, published today in regard to the 'scourge' that is online gambling...I too tried searching for her e-mail. Google turned up a journalist from the freedailypress, but I'm not 100% sure it's the same person.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Seven nights a week, for four- or five-hour stretches, he'd hunch over a computer -- for 25 cents a minute -- sometimes until 5 a.m.

[/ QUOTE ]

Jeebus Fuggin Christmas, if you can afford to spend 25 cents a minute for an internet connection several nights a week for hours on end, then you can afford to buy your own damn computer and modem. Looks like the guy eventually did...but still...

This horrible excuse for an article actually shows why the current legislation making the rounds on the Hill simply won't work. Addicts and other people who really want to gamble will find a way to do it, no matter how much the U.S. government tries to protect people from themselves.

[DrewOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Let's outlaw booze and cigarettes then, too. College students and others become addicted to those, and they don't just break you, they can kill you. Nobody ever died from playing poker on the internet.

[/ QUOTE ]
Agree that the article is quite biased and poor journalism, BUT...
Just to nitpick, I imagine someone, somewhere, offed themselves rather than pay up massive internet gambling debts: you know, the "I just gambled away the kids' college money and I can't bear to live w/ myself" thing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, this has happened many times. There have also been numerous cases of college students racking up huge credit card debts and committing suicide out of depression. Yet I don't see a huge political move to ban credit cards, even though usury on the part of credit card companies has caused more financial damage than gambling ever will.

[NapoleonDolemite]

I'm not sure I've ever been made more sick by an article.

[Quicksilvre]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/20/online.gambling.profile/index.html

Same author, published today in regard to the 'scourge' that is online gambling...I too tried searching for her e-mail. Google turned up a journalist from the freedailypress, but I'm not 100% sure it's the same person.

[/ QUOTE ]

This article, I think, is much worse than the OP's. The title is "Portrait of an Online Gambler," then immediately profiles someone who is unlike at least 90% of online players.

I remember Sports Illustrated having an article about online gambling about a year or a year-and-a-half ago, that described both sides of the coin. I wish I could find a link to it; it was a great deal fairer than this.

[DeliciousBass]

[ QUOTE ]
Jeebus Fuggin Christmas, if you can afford to spend 25 cents a minute for an internet connection several nights a week for hours on end, then you can afford to buy your own damn computer and modem. Looks like the guy eventually did...but still...

This horrible excuse for an article actually shows why the current legislation making the rounds on the Hill simply won't work. Addicts and other people who really want to gamble will find a way to do it, no matter how much the U.S. government tries to protect people from themselves.

[/ QUOTE ]


I was gonna say the same thing...Douche spends 2 grand to use Kinko's computers to gambool at online casinos? Yeah, that pretty much sounds like 90-95% of the people who do it. By the way, I ate eggs this morning and I was sick, all eggs are now bad and if you eat them, chances are good, you will die.

Anyway, I was doing some research and I'm still trying to figure out which set of internet tubes Leonard Tose used when he gambled. If anyone has a link please post it, if anyone doesn't know who Leonard Tose is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Tose

Damn you Internet!

[blueodum]

What about shopaholics?! Ban all online retailers because it increases the opportunities for addiction!

[DrewOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/20/online.gambling.profile/index.html

Same author, published today in regard to the 'scourge' that is online gambling...I too tried searching for her e-mail. Google turned up a journalist from the freedailypress, but I'm not 100% sure it's the same person.

[/ QUOTE ]

This article, I think, is much worse than the OP's. The title is "Portrait of an Online Gambler," then immediately profiles someone who is unlike at least 90% of online players.

I remember Sports Illustrated having an article about online gambling about a year or a year-and-a-half ago, that described both sides of the coin. I wish I could find a link to it; it was a great deal fairer than this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this it here? SI Article (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/more/05/23/internet.poker/1.html)

Seems much more balanced.

Strangely enough, Sports Illustrated is owned by CNN, same media outlet that published the biased article in question here.

[Quicksilvre]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/20/online.gambling.profile/index.html

Same author, published today in regard to the 'scourge' that is online gambling...I too tried searching for her e-mail. Google turned up a journalist from the freedailypress, but I'm not 100% sure it's the same person.

[/ QUOTE ]

This article, I think, is much worse than the OP's. The title is "Portrait of an Online Gambler," then immediately profiles someone who is unlike at least 90% of online players.

I remember Sports Illustrated having an article about online gambling about a year or a year-and-a-half ago, that described both sides of the coin. I wish I could find a link to it; it was a great deal fairer than this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this it here? SI Article (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/more/05/23/internet.poker/1.html)

Seems much more balanced.

Strangely enough, Sports Illustrated is owned by CNN, same media outlet that published the biased article in question here.

[/ QUOTE ]

It might be. There's stuff there I don't recognize, but it might just be because it got condensed down for the internet. I remember it having both winners and losers and everything in between.

The date looks right, though. It would be helpful if someone had the May 24, 2005 issue lying around.

[ThunkHard]

[ QUOTE ]
According to Laurajane Fitzsimons, assistant director of counseling at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth , online gambling addictions are widespread and sometimes well ingrained on college campuses.

Collegians are "developmentally prone for this type of gambling," said Fitzsimons, who has pioneered efforts on her campus to educate students and parents about the risks of online gambling.


[/ QUOTE ]

That's not "Dartmouth", it's probably not even in the top 50 colleges IN MASSACHUSETTS. "assistant director", not a PhD, not a researcher and a joke of an "expert". Seems like your cliche, bitter, burnt out community college guidance counselor.

[DeliciousBass]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
According to Laurajane Fitzsimons, assistant director of counseling at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth , online gambling addictions are widespread and sometimes well ingrained on college campuses.

Collegians are "developmentally prone for this type of gambling," said Fitzsimons, who has pioneered efforts on her campus to educate students and parents about the risks of online gambling.


[/ QUOTE ]


That's not "Dartmouth", it's probably not even in the top 50 colleges IN MASSACHUSETTS. "assistant director", not a PhD, not a researcher and a joke of an "expert". Seems like your cliche, bitter, burnt out community college guidance counselor.

[/ QUOTE ]

I actually have zero problems with the statement of the "assistant director of counseling at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth". I also agree with her.

What I don't agree with is the outright ban of something because a certain (more often than not, known) percentage of the population will develop an addiction.

There are a wide variety of vices that afflict the human race. There are people from all walks of life and across all socio-economic classes that suffer from addiction. The fact is, banning something in the name of "protecting us from ourselves" has never (ever) worked.

Last I checked, certain narcotics have been deemed illegal in this country since 1914 (if the year is wrong someone correct me) and yet, if I chose, I can still obtain certain narcotics. Of course in obtaining them I often pay an inflated price for questionable quality (the only guarenteed outcome of prohibition). We waste billions of dollars a year trying to stop the unstoppable and this bill is just more of the same.

[bills217]

[ QUOTE ]
I remember Sports Illustrated having an article about online gambling about a year or a year-and-a-half ago, that described both sides of the coin. I wish I could find a link to it; it was a great deal fairer than this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll never forget that article; it's what got me started. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I remember thinking, "WTF??? 50k??? from online poker??? Why aren't I getting some of that?!"

[bills217]

[ QUOTE ]
It might be. There's stuff there I don't recognize, but it might just be because it got condensed down for the internet. I remember it having both winners and losers and everything in between.

The date looks right, though. It would be helpful if someone had the May 24, 2005 issue lying around.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's not the article, although it's very similar - it might be a blurb within the larger article from the same issue...I believe the main article was entitled "Online and Obsessed," which is linked to from that page but you have to be a member to view it.

[Quanah Parker]

This is just the sort of crap I've come to expect from CNN's website.
CNN, like all news, is about readership and ad revnue. Whatever is the public's fancy of the day is what CNN will fluff up an article on.
Pray for a busy shark attack season or more hurricanes, anything to get the media's attention off of poker.
Oh yeah, there's a few wars going on, but who wants to be dragged down by bummer news stories?

[mpslg]

[ QUOTE ]
What about shopaholics?! Ban all online retailers because it increases the opportunities for addiction!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, like this lady.

link (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=843920&page=1)

[Botchman]

Does anyone know how to find the contact info(email) of the author of this article? I would like her to find out my view of her article