5 Responses

1. TheDover

   January 11th, 2010 at 7:32 pm

   1

   Very good question!
   I have been playing poker online for several years, as a fun hobby, and also as a way to make a few extra bucks. I have been playing Texas Holdem for years, and online I only play NL holdem tournament poker in multitable games. I am also a USA player, so my answer is pretty much limited to that area and the sites that offer poker online. And I know a lot about that subject, lol.
   I also know quite a bit about gambling in general, in years past I was a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, and played a lot of blackjack and craps. Most of the other games I avoided due to high house advantage.
   FIrstly, there are many many online sites that are BAD! Some of them are little more than scams, and here is a link to an online casino BLACKLIST. http://www.thedoverpro.com/blacklist.htm
   Teenage students? Most sites require you to be 18, and to get your cash out you must prove it with ID. If a teenaqer under 18 wants to gamble online, then I suspect it is not that hard to get around these rules with some fake or borrowed proof, my daughters have told me how easy this was to get. If someone is over 18 and a student, they most likely do NOT have a good understanding of the odds involved in the games or the slots, so they are mostly taken advantage of.
   Is it serious problem? Maybe for some. There is no regulation of most sites, and they operate under different countries laws, which means there is little if any recourse for dispute resolution. If you can avoid the scam sites or the underfunded sites ( many have folded owing players lots of money, ie, Jungle, OKUSA, Tropical, Wingows, PokerDream, etc), the cheating scandal sites (lots of those) you can have some fun. There are USA legal sites that you can play for FREE and still win prizes or cash, or play for a small monthly fee and win some big cash prizes, here is a link: http://www.thedovepro.com/legalpoker.htm
   Since these sites limit your potential losses, this is a safer form of playing online poker, still getting the poker experience and maybe being able to win some cash.
   It can be a serious problem if the player becomes hooked, or the gambling becomes an addiction, and this can happen online, since it is so easy to login and play. But then a certain percentage of players will become hooked no matter what, at live casinos or in local games. Online play does make it easier to be come hooked.
   Colleges, or all learning institutions, in my opinion, should offer courses on gambling! On how to understand the odds of what gambling you are doing, or what you are playing, so that students will be prepared for the real world. Most new young players have no idea about how gambling works, and a pre-education could help them avoid future losses.
   It is not the reponsbility of the casinos to screen users, except for meeting age requirements, it is their responsibility to offer a fair and honest gambling site. Many of them do have ways to limit your loss exposure. But like the B&M casinos, online casinos are in business to make money, and they will take money from as many players as they can get to signup and play. If there was a form of legitimate regulation for online casinos, then there may be a way of controlling the screening of users, and ensuring this would be done.
   Bottom line? In my opinion, online poker (and gambling) is still an area with many pitfalls and even dangers to players. While many of the bigger more reputable sites, like PokerStars, Full Tilt, are most likely to be safe, we have seen some big names like Absolute and Ultimate Bet with major insider cheating scandals.
   Online poker needs to have a legitmate form of regulation, control and enforcement to be safe.

2. Pantokra

   January 11th, 2010 at 8:31 pm

   2

   Gambling is fine as long as you see it as an entertainment.
   Losing and winning is part of the entertainment and you should see it only this way. Do not get into the habit of trying to get back any potential losses and the most important do not assume that you will win every time.
   Set a budget that you know that you can afford to lose, and if you dont lose then enjoy your winnings. Do not assume that next time will be a similar situation. maybe yes, maybe no.
   Gambling companies are screening users it is required by the law.
   But the key thing is to see it as entertainment with self control
   Regards
   Pantokratorhttp://www.bethedealer.com/?did=27162

3. King Cobra

   January 12th, 2010 at 1:09 am

   3

   That’s a few questions there
   1. I’ve been involved in the online gaming business for several years and am pretty familiar with it you might say
   2. You have to be at least 18 to gamble online and no site targets underage gamblers. There’s absolutely no way to effectively prevent this though but some sites require you to prove your age and country of residence. Teenagers can blow their money on all sorts of things though and they don’t need online gaming to do so.
   3. There are people who become addicted to gambling of course but the overwhelming majority of players aren’t. In fact the majority of problem gamblers go for the casino and lottery stuff where you’re guaranteed to lose, as opposed to poker where it’s ultimately a matter of skill.
   4. I suppose that you could say that colleges could do more to address problem gambing, just like I suppose they could do with problem drinking, drug abuse, and other forms of unwanted behavior. Don’t make the mistake of thinking something is wrong though just because a few people abuse it.
   5. This is the best of the questions and the answer is absolutely. You should have to send proof of age and residency to open an account. Problem is the sites don’t really care that much but some are moving toward stricter measures and do require this.
   A.J.http://kingcobrapoker.com

4. eltweeno

   January 12th, 2010 at 5:00 am

   4

   Loads of people at my college play online poker, its fun. We also play in a lot of real life poker tournaments.
   Gambling is fine as long as you know when enough is enough and then being able to stop. Put aside cash you are happy to lose and when that is gone if you’re not lucky enough to win anything then stop, as losing anymore could be detrimental and leed into a downward spiral of losing money and discovering a gambling addiction…
   All in moderation!

5. ZCT

   January 12th, 2010 at 8:04 am

   5

   1) I know more about online poker than online casinos generally. I personally don’t like online casinos that much since you are always fighting a house edge.
   2) There are all kinds of things that affect teenage students. I guess if a student has an attraction to gambling, having online facilities makes it easier to do. It’s one thing to get a false ID and use it to get into a casino, but quite another to just go online and pretend to be of age.
   3) I’d hardly say that of all the problems facing teens today online poker is up there as a ’serious problem.’ I’m more concerned that some teens in this country don’t have proper access to affordable health care. That the food they eat is loaded with calories, sodium, and high fructose corn syrup.
   I’d be more concerned that abstinence education has left them ignorant about sex, and thus susceptible to STDs, which are rampant in the teen community, along with ignorance about sex.
   There may be some teens who gamble too much online, but there are thousands of other temptations and problems facing students, while this may be a problem to a tiny number of students, I’d say there are plenty of other temptations out there that could be far more dangerous. Traditional dangers such as drugs and alcohol for example.
   4) Once a teen is in college, they are usually 18. This makes them a legal adult. Old enough to have a gun. Old enough to join the military. Old enough to drive, buy a house, get married, have a child, etc. In many parts of the country they are old enough to gamble. The lottery is in 48 states. There are real life card rooms, Indian casinos, horse tracks and dog tracks that allow people over 18 to play. So there are places to gamble, it just depends where you live.
   So should a college baby adult students and censor their Internet connections? No. Of course not. These people are adults, and should be treated accordingly. Colleges in America already baby the students far too much in my opinion. The dorms have little dorm monitors to make sure the students are being well behaved. There are all kinds of restrictions and rules to be obeyed. The last thing they need to be doing is controlling Internet access in the privacy of a student’s room.
   5) The problem with online poker rooms / casinos, is that the American government has basically banned American companies from operating them. So what we are left with is a semi ban on online gambling. Although ironically, the very law that banned some online gambling, made other stuff completely legal. For example, horse racing gambling is completely legal here in America. But it would be illegal for an American company to open an online poker room. How is horse betting safer than poker?
   So since Bush allowed such a stupid law to pass, we have left ourselves in the stupid situation of a mild form of prohibition. This really prevents us from controlling and monitoring what is going on with online gambling. The sensible thing to do for our country would be to fully legalize it so that it can be controlled, taxed and regulated. Then it would be far easier to ensure that only adults are able to play.