Division on Addictions, Cambridge Health Alliance a Harvard Medical School affiliate conducted a study of 3,445 online Poker players over 2 years, ninety-five per cent of the people in the study were male, the average age of the group was 27.9 years old and the research concluded that online gaming has no greater problem potential than offline gaming, and that responsible gaming measures were effective.
As well as indicating that online gaming is no more addictive than offline forms of gaming, another important finding of the study scientifically establishes that skill is a distinct factor in poker play, compared to chance, as the Cambridge Health Alliance study showed that a consistent percentage of poker players who play more often, statistically win more often.
The study sponsor Bwin, co-CEO Manfred Bodner said:
"In our intention to replace speculation with scientific evidence, this study takes us a big step closer towards understanding the behaviour of online poker players. Ultimately we are interested in developing algorithms capable of identifying behavioural patterns or identifying risk patterns associated with disordered gaming".
The research report was published by eGaming Review: Online gaming not more addictive, study says
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