A new study of the online casino industry in the United Kingdom is underway. Jointly funded by the Responsibility in Gambling Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council, the study will be conducted by Oxford University's Internet Institute, with assistance from other research departments based at the prestigious university. Following the in-depth study undertaken by Harvard Medical School in cooperation with the online sports betting site, Bwin, the Oxford study will help give weight to prior findings if results are in line with one another.

The most interesting aspects of the Harvard study was in the findings regarding gender specific betting habits, which happened to show that women took more risks when betting on sporting events, and also took home more winnings than the men (see our previous report, Online Sports Betting Study Shows Women Smarter Than Men). Another telling aspect of the Harvard study at Bwin, which monitored some 40,000 punters over an eight month time period, showed that the average eight month loss for bettors was only €33, and that only .4% of these bettors were considered high-risk cases of becoming problem gamblers (see our previous report, Harvard Study Observes Behaviors of Online Sports Bettors).

The Oxford Study aims to develop an empirical picture of online betting patterns - the data for which is being collected via a survey found at the study's designated website, oxfordgamblingsurvey.org. Taking approximately twenty minutes to complete, the comprehensive survey does not collect personal information, and will not be used to trace or identify survey participants. Researchers hope that by employing an anonymous tone they will be able to collect more accurate information pointing to personal betting habits that could be classified as dangerous and unhealthy.

Giving their support to the study is the Remote Gambling Association, the European Gaming and Betting Association, as well as a large number of online casinos and gambling portals. Oh, and did we mention that for taking part in the study, participants will be entered into a drawing for six 8GB video playing iPods? If you gamble at online casinos, perhaps you should think again about taking part in the survey.