STATISTICALLY UNLIKELY

21 November 2008

Is it possible that 20 percent of the world's Internet gamblers are Polish?

 

Quoting the Polish publication Dziennik Usaw this week, the Warsaw Business Journal reported that the number of Poles gambling online is growing at a stunning pace and creating addiction problems.

But how accurate are the statistics? Without quoting its source, Dziennik apparently reports that every fifth player of international internet casinos - which started offering games to Poles only four years ago - is of Polish origin, suggesting that the national proclivity for online gambling is considerable.

The publication goes on to quote Lubomira Szawdyn, a psychotherapist specialising in addictions, as saying. "This is becoming crazy. Every month I answer calls from over 100 people addicted to gambling on the Internet. And the number is growing significantly."

Unfortunately, that is the full extent of the detail and statistical proof that the report delivers....leaving room for speculation that more data is required to flesh out these serious allegations.