Possible action alert: Update misinformation on Wikipedia

[Uglyowl]

I had problems finding a "neutral" source (i.e. not from Majorwajor, etc.) for the Harvard Medical School study on problem gambling to reference, I will work more tomorrow, I gotta get some sleep. Anyhow, there is some pretty one-sided information on Wikipedia about gambling, for example in the online gambling section:
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Problem gambling

Main article: Problem gambling

In the United States in 1999 the National Gambling Impact Study stated "the high-speed instant gratification of Internet games and the high level of privacy they offer may exacerbate problem and pathological gambling". Recently in the UK another government-funded report came to a similar conclusion, claiming that 75% of people who gamble online are "problem" or "pathological" gamblers, compared to just 20% of people who visit legitimate land-based casinos.[19]

Money laundering

It has also been alleged that the largely unsupervised electronic funds transfers inherent in online gambling are being exploited by criminal interests to launder large amounts of illegal cash.[19]



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We probably need to update WTO, GATS, and certain politician information on there with "fair and balanced information".

[Richas]

I hate it when Wiki refers to a newspaper article not the research.

In this case the "UK government" research mentioned was a review of other research not new work. The full report can be found here:
Ascot conference research

In truth they found that between 0.6% and 0.8% of people in the UK have a gambling problem, a similar level to that found in the US. This compares to about 9% who have problems with alcohol.

The "75%" claim in the newspaper article comes from a brief mention of the Ladd and Petry paper "Disordered gambling among university based medical and dental patients: A focus on Internet gambling." Which refers to 74% having a "problem" on the South Oaks scale. I think this is the same data:
Petry - South Oaks survey of sick people

They asked 1414 people already attending for treatment. Of these only 6.9% had ever gambled online with only 2.8% doing so "frequently" (they also use "regularly" in a confusing way for presumably the same group). So there sample size is precisely 40 people who were attending the doctors or dentists. From this you get the Times headline of 75% compulsive internet gamblers.

They used the South oaks Gambling Screen which you can find ere
South Oak Gambling Screen

This is a pretty terrible way to assess problem gambling. For example if you answer yes to any ONE of these they assume you have a problem and include you in the 74%:

Do you feel like you have ever had a problem with betting money or gambling?

Have you ever claimed to be winning money while gambling, even though you were actually losing money?

When you gamble, how often do you return to win back the money you lost?

Yes - some of the time (less than half of the times I lost)

South Oaks is also a lifetime survey so if you have ever done something that is a "problem" you remain a "problem".

I have not updated the Wiki article. I might do after tomorrow when the UK 2007 prevalence survey is published as this builds on the 1999 survey and is likely to be the broadest bit of research to date.

[Merkle]

You sound exceptionally well informed and qualified to accurately update wikipedia on this issue.

I sincerly hope you do so and would like for you to know in advance how much I personally at least, will appreciate your efforts.

[Uglyowl]

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You sound exceptionally well informed and qualified to accurately update wikipedia on this issue.

I sincerly hope you do so and would like for you to know in advance how much I personally at least, will appreciate your efforts.

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Well said, thanks for the research Richas.

Also another page worth editing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_Players_Alliance

Added:

On August 22, 2007 Poker Players Alliance announced President Michael Bolcerek has stepped down from that post. John Pappas filled the role vacated by Bolcerek.

On September 10, 2007 Poker Players Alliance announced that membership surpassed 700,000 members. [10]

Changed reference of Michael Bolcerek to former president.

[Richas]

I will look at doing this later (I was too busy winning $1800 last night to do it - wahoo)

I have not yet read the 2007 prevalence survey published today :
2007 UK gambling survey

but the headline is that 0.6% of the UK population are problem gamblers. This is the same number as in 1999 for the similar survey but in the mean time Internet gambling has doubled from 500,000 to 1m - with no affect whatsoever on th problem gambling rate....

Fab...I'll have to read the whole thing before updating the wiki.