Internet Gambling and Addiction [opinion paper]

Dr. Howard J. Shaffer of the Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions was asked several years ago to provide answers for the following two questions:

(1) Is the nature of addiction meaningfully different for different objects of addiction,
specifically Internet-related versus “local” gambling?; and

(2) Are the risk factors associated with gambling disorders in general significantly different from the risk factors that are associated with Internet gambling in particular.

You can read his comments in the paper "Internet Gambling & Addiction" (2004, January).