Students Not Affected by Online Gambling Prohibition

October 28, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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According to a recent study that was undertaken in the United States, it seems that the online gambling prohibition that has come about as a result of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) has not been particularly effective.

The UIGEA has made the transfer of online gambling funds illegal, but has essentially not made online gambling itself, illegal. While the legality of online gambling may be somewhat debatable, it is in effect banned because of the laws that have been set up to prevent the transfer of funds. Having noted that, it seems that there are still many player in the United States that are gambling online.

The study that was recently undertaken by the Annenberg Adolescent Communication Institute, which is based at the University of Pennsylvania, looked at online gambling and students, both of college age, and younger.

The age group used for the study was a range of fourteen year olds to 22 year olds. The study found that the percentage of high school students who gamble online each month is 6.2%, which is up from 2.7%, which was the figure recorded in a study done in 2008. In 2008, 4.4% of college-aged males were gambling online, but this year, the number has jumped significantly to 16%.

Despite the enactment of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) it does not seem as if online gambling has decreased in the United States. In fact, at least according to these statistics, online gambling seems to have increased in popularity since 2006, when the UIGEA was passed. Of course, with the more recent enforcement of the act, this may change somewhat.

As far as females in the age group of 14 - 17, online gambling rose by 9%, however, the number of females of this age that participate in online gambling is significantly lower than that of males.

Those who did the research extrapolate that around 400,000 college aged males in the United States that are between 18 and 22 years of age, gamble online as much as once a week, and that 1.7 million gamble online for a minimum of once a month.

The director of the Adolescent Communication Institute, Dan Romer, has noted that as can be seen by the dramatic rise in online gambling amongst male students, it seems that the payment restrictions that have been placed on online gambling websites as a result of the UIGEA, are ineffective in preventing underage online gambling.

The survey had 596 respondents this year, and 835 respondents when it was undertaken in 2008.