Kindt Analysis Ignores Studies into Online Gambling

May 05, 2009 | News Category: Gaming Law

0 Comments John Kindt, a professor at the University of Illinois, has been making public statements regarding the repeal of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) online gambling ban. He has said that should the online gambling ban be repealed, it will destroy the United States economy and will also destroy the American way of life.

Kindt seems to form part of the unofficial group of scare-tactic demagogues who make blanket statements and invent terrifying scenarios which are not based on fact, and in fact conflict with the results of various studies that have been performed. Kindt, and others like him, seem to be hoping that their pronouncements will prevent objective study of online gambling.

Across the US, legislators have begun to consider that regulating online casinos will not only help to bring in much needed tax money, but will also protect consumers while allowing free choice by those who choose to play.

Kindt obviously does not agree with the view of these legislators, and he told the scientific website Physorg.com that "The revenue they would get is miniscule compared to the devastation it would bring to the financial systems, stock markets, national security and people's lives."

Kindt has not brought any studies to support his statements, including a claim that he made regarding soldiers. Kindt said that soldiers would spend their leisure time at casinos if gambling was legal and would not be spending time training to defend the country. What he neglected to say is that soldiers might also spend their much deserved leisure time bowling, eating out, going to movies or hanging out with friends and loved ones.

Kindt claimed that "This law (the UIGEA) was the result of 10 years of congressional hearings, where expert after expert warned of the dangers of gambling on the Internet. Online gambling is called the crack cocaine of creating new addicted gamblers."

Those that follow the news will know that the UIGEA was not a well researched and publicly debated bill. It was simply a last-minute addition which was snuck though into law when the port security act was legislated. To further refute Kindt's claims, there have been studies which show different results, which have been done by Dr. Howard Shaffer of Harvard Medical School's Addiction Studies department, and by the director of the Treatment of Problem Gambling in South Africa, Professor Dan Ross.

One wonders how well-educated professors and other community leaders can choose to make public statements based on their personal beliefs, while ignoring scientific studies.

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