The list below features ten research studies and articles on Harvard.edu and its sister sites concerning a range of topics relating to playing Internet games of chance and betting on sports remotely. They cover various aspects of the legal regulation of these activities, their impact on participating individuals and society at large, and the safety of engaging in these pastimes.
Advertising and Consumer Protection Laws Regarding Online Gambling
Author: Brandon McCoy
Publishing Date: March, 2023
Link: https://journals.law.harvard.edu/jsel/2023/03/states-can-use-advertising-and-consumer-protection-law-to-avoid-rolling-the-dice-with-online-sports-betting/
Despite dozens of states championing the fall of PASPA, one’s pro-Internet betting legalization, this text notes that the country should seriously rethink how this pastime gets presented to the masses. It argues for rules that define how this activity gets featured in marketing content, proclaiming that states must do more to protect consumers via a tighter grip on how customers get fed ads.
So, You Think the Government Can’t Regulate Internet Gambling?
Author: Brian L. Glassberg
Publishing Date: 1998
Link: https://cyber.harvard.edu/fallsem98/final_papers/Glassberg.html
Here, Brian L. Glasberg proposes using technology as a means of regulation. He recommends following existing 1990s legislation, with digital certificates/filtering as an effective tool for restricting access for American users instead of pursuing punitive measures that punish them for gambling at offshore sites.
The Witch-Hunt Against Online Gambling
Author: Joshua M. Wallace
Publishing Date: March, 2016
Link: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33797255/WALLACE-DOCUMENT-2016.pdf
Joshua M. Wallace’s 2016 thesis explains how gambling, traditionally a contentious entertainment form in the US, now less taboo than ever, has gotten exposed to a sinister anti-gambling political agenda primarily motivated by greed. The thesis looks to uncover the hypocrisy within well-known American politicians who compromise their principles for the benefit of big business.
Is Online Gambling Harming You?
Author: Matthew Solan
Publishing Date: October, 2023
Link: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-online-gambling-harming-you-202310022978
Written by Harvard Men’s Health Watch Executive Editor Matthew Solan, this article explains why gambling is a risky activity for so many people. It goes into the reason so many consider cognitive behavioral therapy a promising treatment for gambling addiction and goes on to decipher why betting requires careful indulgence by all, underlining the importance of resources like Gamblers Anonymous centers and helplines.
Sports Gambling, State Regulation, and the Pursuit of Revenue
Author: wpengine
Publishing Date: January, 2015
Link: https://journals.law.harvard.edu/hblr/2015/01/inevitable-sports-gambling-state-regulation-and-the-pursuit-of-revenue/
A write-up investigating the federal legal sports gambling battle involving the state of New Jersey, the most iGaming-friendly region in the US, with New Jersey online casinos pulling the most impressive online gambling revenues in America. The paper details the conflict between powerful American sports leagues and entities facing off against Garden State’s past Governor, a dispute not chiefly about gambling but about seizing control of marketing opportunities, sports data, and revenue streams.
Automatic Detection of Problem-Gambling Signs
Author: Elke Smith, Nils Reiter, Jan Peters
Publishing Date: November, 2023
Link: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023arXiv231200804S/abstract
A technical study that proves a BERT-based (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) model can be reliably applied to small datasets to identify signs of problem gambling from forum posts using modern diagnostic criteria and known cognitive distortions. It goes into how the implemented model achieved a precision of 0.95 using k-fold cross-validation and an F1 score of 0.71.
When Gambling Might Be a Problem
Author: Howard J. Shaffer
Publishing Date: February, 2018
Link: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/when-gambling-might-be-a-problem-2018020113202
Howard J. Shaffer, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in the Field of Behavioral Sciences, presents a three-item screen that tries to help gamblers assess if they may have a gambling disorder. It focuses on restlessness, secrecy about gambling habits, and financial troubles. Shaffer highlights the vital nature of self-evaluation, looking to give insights into people having a deeper understanding of the impact gambling can have on their lives.
Can Internet Gambling Be Effectively Regulated?
Author: Malcolm Sparrow
Publishing Date: December, 2009
Link: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/can-internet-gambling-be-effectively-regulated-managing-risks
Commissioned by an Internet Safety and Educational charity named Wired Safety and conducted by Harvard Professor of the Practice of Public Management Malcolm Sparrow, this study goes into the multiple hazards of people playing games of chance online and what alternative methods exist to mitigate these dangers. Much of this study’s content evaluates technological and regulatory strategies that can be effectively utilized to lower the likelihood of the various harms synonymous with Internet gambling.
Wager Distribution, Risk Attitude, and Anomalous Diffusion
Author: Michel Pleimling and Xiangwen Wang
Publishing Date: October, 2019
Link: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019NatSR…914712W/abstract
Originally published in Scientific Reports, Volume 9, Xiangwen Wang and Michel Pleimling present research where gambling logs of several exclusively probability-based games get scrutinized, focusing on extracting wager and odds distributions. This investigation concludes with potential explanations for the observed anomalous diffusion patterns and their probable origins.
Churn Prediction in Online Gambling
Author: Damien Ernst and Florian Merchie
Publishing Date: January, 2022
Link: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022arXiv220102463M/abstract
Churn prediction tries to detect what users are likely to leave a service. This study addresses churn prediction about online gambling, proposing a novel recurrent neural network-based algorithm for gaming user retention purposes.