Online gambling has provided new opportunities for data to be analyzed for consumer protection purposes. Harms that are common among individuals with gambling disorder include escalating levels of gambling that go beyond disposable income, relationship problems with family and loved ones, health problems, and compromising occupation and/or education. Consequently, harm is not only experienced by individuals suffering from a gambling disorder. Gambling may result in harm that is experienced by different social groups such as families and communities. Despite this, it can be evident that current legislation may impose a financial strain on the operator if responsible gambling interventions are not carried out properly and may result in large fines for the operators by regulatory bodies. Further arguments have also been raised because there may be a conflict of interest for the operator to invest in consumer protection since this might have an impact on the commercial interest and financial gain of the operator. Criticism lies in the terminology of the words ‘responsible gambling’ because the shift of responsibility is placed onto the consumer, where the consumer needs to utilize the responsible gambling tools offered by the operator. Responsible gambling and consumer protection have been discussed and defined for several years. Moreover, online gambling operators may provide better and more accessible responsible gambling tools than those provided offline. However, due to factors concerning innovative new technology, better consumer protection may be achieved. Internet gambling is often seen negatively due to its high accessibility and convenience, and it may increase the occurrence of problem gambling due to higher gambling exposure. It is understandable that the more popular online gambling becomes, the more concerning it may be because it might lead to an increase in gambling-related harm.
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Subsequently, there is a high number of gambling operators based in Malta, in which the local authority imposes license requirements for consumers in other countries, making borderless gambling possible. While gambling regulations were traditionally for territory-based gambling, many countries have not got to grips with online regulation of the activity.
Due to the global nature of online gambling, it has become accessible across national borders. Online gambling has expanded quickly but gambling regulation to protect players and minimize harm has tended to lag behind.
This form of gambling has increased in popularity but can bring about risks for problem gamblers, due to the possibility of offering mood-altering experiences such as immersion and escapism, which can in turn lead to disproportionate involvement. In fact, in the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey, it was reported that up to 14% of the total adult population had gambled online and had increased to 21% in the latest British study. Through the internet, and especially via smartphones, gambling has changed into an activity that can be done anywhere at any time. The findings of this research are beneficial for operators, researchers, and policymakers because it provides insight into gambling behavior by analyzing real player behavior using tracking technologies, which is objective and unbiased. Customers who use VSE are too different to be treated as a homogenous group and therefore VSE is not a reliable proxy measure for problem gambling.
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Moreover, half of the customers had less than seven days of account registration prior to six-month VSE (50.39%). Almost one-fifth of the customers that used six-month VSE only had gambling activity for less than 24 h (19.15%). The participants comprised of costumers that chose to use the six-month VSE option (n = 7732), and customers that chose to close their Unibet account due to a specific self-reported gambling addiction (n = 141). Therefore, the present study examined this issue by analyzing customers (from the gambling operator Unibet) that have engaged in VSE. However, some scholars have argued that this is a poor proxy for problem gambling. A number of studies have analyzed consumers that have used voluntary self-exclusion (VSE) as a proxy measure for problem gambling.
Online gambling has continued to grow alongside new ways to analyze data using behavioral tracking as a way to enhance consumer protection.