New Smart Phone App Helps Compulsive On-line Gamblers

December 6, 2011

A new smart phone app, named HealthE Gaming is set to bring a high tech solution to people who suffer from on-line gaming addiction. The app has been developed by Bo Bernhard, a UNLV sociologist who is also the director of the International Gaming Institute.

Gambling is a harmless pastime for most people, and usually costs no more than spending an equivalent amount of time in a bar or some other social venue. However, for a small percentage of on-line gamblers, the situation is more critical, even life threatening.

The concept behind this app is very simple. In the same way that people use walking/jogging/running timers to motivate them to perform better, this new app provides the same kind of psychological encouragement.

The app is going to be fairly intelligent. It will monitor the gambling habits of the individual, and take action based upon the data collected. For example, in a mild case of addiction, the application may merely set off an alarm, telling the owner of the smart phone that they have spent too much time gambling today. At the more extreme end of the scale, a binge gambler may find his phone booking him a session with the local gamblers anonymous group.

The kind of help offered does not stop at prompting though. The app is capable of connecting the user with a mentor, an ex-gambling addict in their local area who has agreed to help out others. It may also highlight chat rooms and social networks which the gambler may find therapeutic to become part of.

As the Western World heads towards fully legalized gambling, probably sometime within the next decade, applications of this kind could well become almost mandatory for on-line gamblers. Major on-line gaming sites have already been informed that the road to full legality will include some form of proactive monitoring of the gambling habits of their customer base. Logically, a branded app similar to HealthE Gaming is the way to go. We could well see this first offering of an app of this kind becoming the de facto industry standard.

Regardless of future issues faced by the on-line gaming industry, an app of this kind is useful now. For a percentage of on-line gambling addicts, it could well be the kind of cure they require.

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