Since the day that online gambling in certain areas of the world was banned, proponents have been fighting to have that ban lifted.  Although it has been an uphill battle by all accounts, the movement has continued to gain small amounts of momentum.  It seems the movement has gained another push of momentum, but this time it comes with a twist.

Professors June Cotte and Kathryn LaTour both describe themselves as non-gamblers.  However, they feel that the ban on online gambling should be lifted.  The reason that their support of the movement to lift the ban on online gambling comes with a twist is because they feel that lifting the ban is necessary in order to properly regulate the online gambling industry.

Their conclusions were a result of their work on a report called "Blackjack in the Kitchen: Understanding Online Versus Casino Gambling".  Their report will be published in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.  The basis of their argument is that if online gambling is fully legalized by Canada and the United States, it will then be possible to impose regulations that target the harmful effects of online gambling.  The two professors feel that banning online gambling is an ineffective policy, because the online gambling industry is already bringing in between twelve and fifteen billion dollars every year. 

So, how did they come to the conclusion that online gambling needs to be regulated instead of banned?  After interviewing ten online gamblers and twenty traditional gamblers, they found that the online players gambled on a more frequent basis, for longer periods of time and did not comprehend their losses as well as traditional gamblers.