The MGM Resorts International, which is a leading land-based casino, participated at the 19th Southern Gaming Summit that was convened in Biloxi recently. Here the CEO of MGM Resorts International, Murren, reiterated the need to legalize online gambling in the country. Here, he mentioned his company’s partnership with the European gambling leader bwin.party for a joint gambling initiative once gambling becomes legal in the US. Murren appears very positive about the whole process of legalization of online gambling and is pretty confident that this year will witness the launch of internet gambling in the truest sense of the term. But, he believes that this may not be possible on a federal level as there is no definite move by the federal government in this direction. He feels that the change will come about on a state level. At the same time, he emphasizes his company’s backing of the federal laws because he thinks that this can enforce the law more accurately and only the federal government can add a strong crime prevention angle to it. But, this control by the federal government may not ever happen in the future, according to him, because of the Republicans opposition.
Murren also stressed that the future of social gaming will depend on its convergence with what is called social media. All online gaming giants can exploit their chances to interact with the players and learn from them or partner with them. Social gaming offers a great opportunity to all the companies that are keen to compete and have the infrastructure to do so. He even suggested that MGM had a project on these lines, but a name for this gaming project is yet to be fixed.
Aussie research facts
Sydney’s Gambling Treatment Clinic in a recent research revealed some interesting finds about gambling addictions. This clinic’s Education and Training Officer Anjoul recently declared that gambling is definitely not the kind of addictive behavior it is made out to be. Addiction in gambling can be extensive, but often the tendency to associate it with drug abuse and alcohol addiction is unjustified, according to the clinic’s study. This is because withdrawal and tolerance symptoms which are characteristic of addiction problems in drug addicts or alcoholics are hardly noticeable in the gamblers. Problem gambling is not an effect of malfunctioning of biological processes which an individual fails to gain control of; it is usually the result of poorly informed choices among those who are often not guided properly and develop this addictive habit. This means that the treatment for both should also be different. Anjoul has come up with a unique cognitive therapy process which has shown to have more impressive outcomes than the earlier used methods designed to cure gambling addictions. These treatment methods typically focus on showing people to control their gambling urges. Earlier these would not have long-lasting effects and people would go through relapses. But the current model has shown better results and people trying it have actually been experiencing fewer urges now.