Should Shark and OPR Identify Addicts to Casinos?

[batair]

There are people addicted to all kind of harmful things, beer, whiskey, pot, coke, tobacco, shopping, driving to fast the list goes on and on.It is not the responsibility of the producers of a product to make sure that there product is used correctly.In a free society it is the individuals own responsibility not to become an addict and if they do to get help for it.IMO

bat

[2461Badugi]

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Thanks -- I guess that is true. No idiots -- no money -- but still -- idiots are one thing and people falling into the 0.04 percentile might be another don't ya think?

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Regardless of whether they are, I don't feel at all confident in identifying which is which from results.

[ChipFerFree]

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Thanks -- I guess that is true. No idiots -- no money -- but still -- idiots are one thing and people falling into the 0.04 percentile might be another don't ya think?

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Regardless of whether they are, I don't feel at all confident in identifying which is which from results.

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Meaning that you don't think you can determine that a player is an idiot by looking at the stats -- or meaning that even though the stats clearly show the person is an idiot -- they may not be dangerously addicted?

I gotta assume you mean the latter since stats are a pretty good indication of ability...

[sethypooh21]

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There are people addicted to all kind of harmful things, beer, whiskey, pot, coke, tobacco, shopping, driving to fast the list goes on and on.It is not the responsibility of the producers of a product to make sure that there product is used correctly.In a free society it is the individuals own responsibility not to become an addict and if they do to get help for it.IMO

bat

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Probably not the right forum, but I disagree with the above fairly strongly. I agree that the primary responsibility is on the individual user. However, I think the producer of a product has some degree of obligation to society to ensure prudent use of that product. I'm not talking about legislation here, merely saying that as a moral imperative, a tobacco company shouldn't intentionally make its product more addictive, a car company should require reasonably priced safety features and so on.

In the present case, i think that the deposit limits imposed by poker sites is a pretty reasonable step to take.

To OP, I used to struggle with the same issue, but part of that was that win I first started playing seriously, the money I saw people losing would have been pretty devastating to me, but it would no longer be, so I guess I know sort of assume that most of my vict...er opponents don't gamble what they can't afford to lose.

[BradleyT]

It's not like you personally are doing anything to make poker more addicting so I wouldn't feel morally as bad as say the CEOs of the tobacco companies should feel.

[DeadLily]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is OPR? (I know Sharkscope.)

[ChipFerFree]

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Forgive my ignorance, but what is OPR? (I know Sharkscope.)

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www.officialpokerranking.com

Devoted to only MTT. They catch them really well from I think 18 player games on up...

[Josem]

being a losing (or winning) player is not a sign of addiction - because different people play poker for different motives.

the sign of addiction is the effect of the game on other aspects of the player's life - things that cannot possibly be tracked on a website. These includes relationships with other people, other financial situations, and so on.

However, the advantage of online poker is that if someone wants to take action to stop their addiction, they can do so much more effectively than at offline sites.

[ILuvRiver]

Most pokersites adhere to a responsible gaming policy of some kind, meaning YOU can request self exclusion from the site for x period of time (or permenant if you so wish).


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being a losing (or winning) player is not a sign of addiction - because different people play poker for different motives.

the sign of addiction is the effect of the game on other aspects of the player's life - things that cannot possibly be tracked on a website. These includes relationships with other people, other financial situations, and so on.

However, the advantage of online poker is that if someone wants to take action to stop their addiction, they can do so much more effectively than at offline sites.

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This illustrates the point nicely, what if the site was to ban this person, or even accuse them of being an addict and it turns out they are just a DONK!

Maybe I am just an evil, immoral, SOB but who gives a [censored] nail em to the wall!! You never know, it may even encourage them to play better! lol

[ChipFerFree]

I guess I don't totally agree with the comment that...

'being a losing player is not a sign of addiction'.

I believe it can be a great indication.

In fact that was the main thing I was speaking to with the original post. People that are hemorrhaging money very likely do have a problem beyond just being a donk. Oh sure sure tons of people have so much extra cash that losing 50k is no big deal. I don't really know any of those people but I'm told they are EVERYWHERE. Surely everyone on 2p2 could handle a 50k swing at a 45 degree angle straight down from 0 profit never seeing daylight across 500 SNG's.

I'm unique in that this would probably make me STOP playing...