11. Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States – where appropriate through the expert group – to explore the possibility of EU-wide interoperability between national self-exclusion registers that include, inter alia, self-exclusion, personal loss and time limits, and that are accessible to national authorities and licensed gambling operators, so that any customer self-excluding or surpassing their gambling limits at one gambling operator has the opportunity to be automatically self-excluded from all other licensed gambling operators; underlines the fact that any mechanism to exchange personal information on problem-gamblers must be subject to strict data protection rules; stresses the importance of the expert group in ...[+++]working towards the protection of citizens against gambling addictions; stresses that in order to make consumers aware of their own gambling activity, this register should show the consumer all information pertaining to her/his gambling history whenever she/he starts to play;

11. Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States – where appropriate through the expert group – to explore the possibility of EU-wide interoperability between national self-exclusion registers that include, inter alia, self-exclusion, personal loss and time limits, and that are accessible to national authorities and licensed gambling operators, so that any customer self-excluding or surpassing their gambling limits at one gambling operator has the opportunity to be automatically self-excluded from all other licensed gambling operators; underlines the fact that any mechanism to exchange personal information on problem-gamblers must be subject to strict data protection rules; stresses the importance of the expert group in ...[+++]working towards the protection of citizens against gambling addictions;

10. Believes that additional research and data are needed in order to quantify compulsive gambling and the risks associated with different forms of gambling; calls on all the Member States and the Commission to carry out, in a coordinated manner, further studies to understand problem gambling; notes that gambling operators have a responsibility to contribute towards the prevention of gambling addiction;

We tend to believe that the social costs of gambling are primarily associated with the consequences of gambling addiction. According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, three per cent of Ontarians are addicted to gambling, and the province of Ontario derives 40 per cent of its gambling revenues from that three per cent of the population.

Treatment of problem gambling addiction is an important and effective method for managing problem gambling; however, it cannot undo the loss of wealth, the destruction of families and other damages caused by problem gambling.

A study from Sweden and other countries shows that the risk of someone developing an addiction to gambling is five to seven times higher if that person plays poker on the Internet than if he or she simply goes out and plays poker in the real world.