Gambling is not all that bad, says study

Gambling is not always bad, especially for those who indulge in it for fun and are in control of their gambling habit, says a new study.

Most gamblers, who play responsibly, enjoy the experience and exhibit no problems, the findings showed.

"Positive players take personal responsibility for their pastime by using various strategies to ensure that they only gamble what they can afford to spend," said Mark Griffiths from the Nottingham Trent University in Britain.

For their study, the researchers carried out an online survey of 1,484 positive players and 209 problem players.

They found that the internet was by far the most popular medium, where up to 93 percent of the positive players in their study regularly gambled showing that online gambling is not inherently riskier than gambling in more traditional ways.

In sharp contrast to earlier studies that focused mainly on the negative aspects of gambling, this study has helped to detail what non-problematic "positive play" is like.

Those who play more tend to have more personal strategies in place to control their pastime.

Nine out of ten respondents almost always decide on a spending limit before starting to gamble.

But the problem gamblers play to find relief from a particular mood they are in, be it boredom, stress or feeling upset.

The results appeared in Springer's Journal of Gambling Studies.