Online Gambling

Addiction counsellors worried about growing trend of compulsive online gambling.

In contrast to the traditional bookmaker shops, online gambling is an international enterprise where bets are taken at any time of day or night with hundreds of websites to choose from.

Companies like the Irish based SportsSpread.com are getting in on the act. This betting company does fifty per cent of its business online and the other fifty per cent over the telephone. Managing director Conor Foley explains how one of their products Supreme Odds Casino operates.

Everything you can play in Las Vegas you can play on that casino.

Director of The Rutland Centre Stephen Rowan says that they are now treating people who have a compulsive gambling addiction. He and his colleagues are concerned for both the person who is unable to stop gambling, and for their families, as they will

Suffer as a result of this new dimension to gambling dependency.

One former gambler who is now in recovery says he spent thousands of pounds online,

You didn’t have to speak to anyone to place your bets.

Internet gambling companies say that customer accounts are monitored for unusual activity, but those in recovery say that this is not enforced.

With online gambling expected to grow by up to twenty per cent year on year, counsellors expect to hear even more stories of addiction.

An RTÉ News report broadcast on 6 May 2004. The reporter is Anna Murphy.