Marylanders are not too keen on online casinos. In fact, you may argue that they are rather opposed to the whole thing (especially if you prompt them a bit through tailored questions). On Tuesday, the National Association Against iGaming (NAAiG) published the findings of a survey that questioned locals if they would favor online casinos and iGaming legalization.
Anti-iGaming Group’s Study Finds People Oppose Online Casinos En Masse – Do They?
The answer was an overwhelming “no” with 71% of Marylanders saying that they opposed the idea altogether. While NAAiG clearly has an agenda and has been advocating against online casinos, the methodology of the survey checks out.
Monarch Casino & Resort Executive Vice President & General Counsel Jason Gumer has cited these results as proof that the public was opposed to online gambling and “understood it for what it was.”
NAAiG said that 52% of respondents originally opposed the idea, but the company conducting the survey, Lake Research, saw opinions change to opposition when they told respondents that people would have access to online casino-style games around the clock.
Because of this phrasing, however, the opposition mounted, so it could be argued that the researchers were specifically pointing out, drawing the respondents’ attention to the potential harms online gambling brings.
Online Casinos Are Here, and Inevitable – Why Keep Harping on the Same Tune?
While it is true that an increase in the available gambling options nationwide has led to a higher number of problem gamblers temporarily, it’s also true that the overall percentage of the population experiencing a gambling issue has remained fairly unchanged.
What has changed, however, is that these legitimate operators have been prying away big spenders from the offshore market, bringing in tax revenue and allocating money for treatment and player protection measures.
Without regulated online casinos, high spenders and ordinary people fall victim to offshore markets, which have left people to fend for themselves and try to get their lives back on track, suffer data and financial loss, and worse.