Industry News
Studies Show Only One Percent of Gamblers Addicted
... actually addicted to gambling an almost $40 billion industry in Jamaica that has doubled in sales over the past three years.
A number of studies, conducted in the U.S., and across the globe, have shown that only one percent of gamblers are addicted, said Walter Scott, the chairman of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) of Jamaica, effectively dispelling the false notions peddled by politicians to ban Internet gambling.
The cost of the study will be about $4 million, as pollsters will have to be hired, and the data will have to be analyzed by experts, said Scott.
A Local Study
Though gambling obviously isn’t a problem globally, Jamaican officials think it is somewhat necessary to undertake a totally local study to determine whether there was a problem there, said Scott."One of the things that the commission has done over the last three years is to look at the dark side,” said Scott, during a speech at the Rotary Club of Kingston at the Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston, Jamaica.
Scott said poll numbers show that only one percent of persons engaged in gaming were either addicted or were pathological gamblers in the U.S. Another two to three percent may fall into the category of problem gamers, he said.
"They are not addicted in the clinical or pathological sense but they show the elements of being problem gamers," said Scott.
Scott said the study may in the coming months demonstrate whether the same is true in Jamaica, where gambling was legalized just a few years ago.
Most interestingly, Scott said there will be this year a $4 billion increase in sales, up from $32 billion last year from gaming in Jamaica. Just three years ago, revenues were only $14 million in gambling in Jamaica. The government will this year earn $1 billion in tax revenues from the gambling sector, said Scott.
Home-Grown
"No more than three to four percent of the total sales in the sector come from visitors. It's all home-grown," said Scott.Scott said in that other gambling cities such as Las Vegas, and Atlantic City, in the U.S., the majority of sales revenue comes from tourists and other “visitors.”
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