Norwegians are addicted to gambling? | IXGAMES

In 2005, every Norwegian over the age of 15 gambled almost NOK 11,500 on registered Norwegian games of chance. Now, SINTEF Health Research is to survey how many Norwegians are addicted to gambling. For the first time in this country, the researchers will also be asking gamblers families and friends what they think. The study will also be the first to demonstrate whether there is a relationship in the Norwegian population between being dependent on Internet computer games and problems with playing for money. These days, 10,000 Norwegian citizens are finding a questionnaire by SINTEF Health Research in their post-boxes. The form has been sent to a random sample of the population aged between16 and 74. The main focus of the survey is cash gambling, ranging from scratchcards and Lotto to one-armed bandits and Internet poker. For the survey to offer a true picture of Norwegian gambling habits, it is important that as many as possible should complete the questionnaire, no matter whether they play often, seldom or never at all, says project manager Anita Øren of SINTEF Health Research. Is the problem on the increase? The Norwegian Gaming Board is financing the population study of gambling addiction, which is a follow-up of a similar study that was carried out in 2002. An important aim of the study is to find out whether peoples gambling problems have increased in scope since then. In 2002, the study came to the conclusion that 49,000 persons aged between 15 and 74 either had, or had previously had, a serious gambling problem. Since then, the gross turnover of the Norwegian gambling market has risen by 25 percent. There is also Internet gambling, which is not subject to controls. The authorities wish to see how this affects gambling addiction at population level, says Norwegian Gaming Board director Atle Hamar. When the previous study was performed in 2002, the gross turnover of Norways regulated gaming industry was more than NOK 20 billion. The Board does not have all the figure for 2006 ready yet, but in 2005, gross turnover was NOK 42.5 billion, which means that everyone in Norway from the age of 15 staked an average of NOK 11,402 in that year. Norwegian also gambled for at least NOK 4 billion on unregulated Internet gaming in 2005, a figure that has roughly doubled since 2003.