The Impact of the Internet on Canadian Gambling
Gambling is an industry with many grey areas that experienced the impact of social and technological changes over recent years. With change came the emergence of the internet which proved to have positive and negative effects on both Canadian gambling operators as well as players.
From a player’s perspective, there can be no argument as to how the internet helped bring new players. The world wide web made it possible for those Canadians who live in areas far from the few land based casinos, to participate in gambling online. Now, more players than ever before can access online casinos and has subsequently led to the exponential growth of the gambling industry in Canada.
There are now hundreds of Casinos that any Canadian can access anytime or day or night, but this is not the only change. With the creation of the online casino came the growth of the secondary online casino industry. These are sites like Canadian-online-casinos.ca that offer online casino reviews and guides about how to play casino games online
But, helping more users to gain access the online gambling does have a dark side. The increase of players also means more cases of problem gambling within the region. The mere fact that it is simple to register an online account, makes it easy for many to frequently login and play at an increased pace. As a result, the possibility arises for gambling addiction where playing beyond control may occur.
In the same breath, there are some equally convincing negativities the impact of internet has on other areas outside of gameplay. The internet acts as a host to an entirely new breed of criminals who specifically target unsuspecting Canadian gamblers. These unethical hackers constantly discover new ways of making cash by threatening player accounts. As the internet serves as a fluid base for phishing scams, criminals aim to access confidential financial information such as credit or debit card details. However, it should be noted that Canadian casino operators go the extra mile to clamp down on such activity by ensuring risk and fraud mechanisms are put in place. Canadian casinos with the help of the internet, are able to detect such behaviour in advance and thus alert third party payment gateways of any suspect accounts.
In addition to the above, the internet has also changed the gambling industry by making some of the lesser known games gain worldwide popularity. Games are easily accessible with a click of a button and there are more options today as opposed to the variety at land-based casinos in the past. Many online casinos have risen to fill the void based on huge demand for new slot games, and we can expect the rate of growth to only accelerate in times to come.
When weighing out the pros and cons of the changes the internet has on the online gambling industry in Canada, we can look at it from two ways. Firstly, it has stimulated growth in the market by the increased levels of acquisition and secondly, it has also opened up a portal for potential threats. What we can perhaps take away based on both the positive and negative effects is that there are more changes to come based on the dynamic nature of the internet.
