"If it's legalized, that would put electronic gambling – the crack cocaine of gambling addiction – on every work desk, [in] every living room, [on] every mobile phone," says Mr. Kindt. "I call it, 'click your mouse, lose your house.' "
Potential costs to society, he adds, outweigh whatever revenues online gambling would attract.
"It's just bad social and economic policy," he says. "It's going to expand the social ills and taxpayer costs of addicted gambling and problem gambling. Desperate states will be getting in new lottery revenues at the expense of creating new addicted gamblers and problem gamblers." And, he adds, it's impossible to electronically regulate online gambling.
But Fahrenkopf, of the American Gaming Association, says protections can be put in place to regulate Internet gambling, pointing for example to countries like England and France, where online gambling is allowed.
"We've seen what they're doing in Europe," he says. "They've put in place responsible gaming tracking restrictions, like technology to ensure the person placing a bet is in legal jurisdiction."
