Online Gambling is a form of gambling in which participants bet money or other items of value on a virtual game of chance through the internet. It’s an industry that is growing rapidly and is regulated in many states. In some states, specific kinds of online gambling, such as poker, are explicitly legal. In others, gambling is illegal (as it is in Washington state) but regulated, and in still other states, there are no regulations at all.

Problem Gambling can have significant negative impacts on people’s lives and is associated with a variety of harms including financial stress, relationship breakdown, family violence, substance use problems and mental illness. It can also lead to a range of health-related consequences including poor work or school performance, high blood pressure and insomnia. It may also cause a decline in social activities and even lead to isolation from friends and family. In some cases, people with gambling disorders resort to illegal activities such as theft and fraud in order to fund their habit which can lead to serious criminal convictions and jail time.

To identify research on risk and protective factors for online gambling, a search of peer-reviewed journals was conducted using the syntax: (gambling OR gamblers OR gambling) AND (risk factor OR protective factor OR predictor OR correlate). The search was limited to articles published between 2010 and 2020.

In the United States, it is illegal to place a bet on sports or other events via an online gambling site, but this has rarely been enforced. Instead, the police focus their enforcement efforts on business owners who run the sites rather than the gamblers themselves. The industry has several self-regulating organizations that casinos can join but membership doesn’t necessarily imply that the casino is trustworthy.