I'm sorry to say that I'm going to have to disagree. I don't disagree with the study, because obviously your stats show the proof. But it's like saying something like: Placing food in front of someone leads people to want to take a bite. maybe a bad analogy. What I'm trying to say is that someone interested in video games "a gamer" is interested in games. Someone who is into competing is into competition. Here's why I think this study may be providing the wrong results: a) video gamers rarely ever place bets on games they play. I've never heard of multiplayer Halo 3 users actually stopping from playing Halo 3 to then go play texas holdem. I am saying the personality of a video game enthusiast is into playing games, winning, and competition. Being a video gamer does not become an enabler to make people start gambling. Take it from someone that is a gamer and also lives in Atlantic City, NJ. I've never once said "I need to put down my game controller and go hit the slot machines.

virtual world economies like Second Life are "too big to fail." That is COMPLETELY a false statement... (and i'll be commenting on their blog too in a moment. Not only is the info and stats offbase on their article.... but lets take the Second Life economy for example: the SL economy is a Ponzi scheme (and I personally think Ponzi schemes have a bad light on em, because in my own opinion, some ponzi setups work, people just aren't willing to admit it.... for example tupperware parties, Avon sales, multi-level-marketing... all ponzis and pyramid schemes that work). SL is a ponzi scheme that we all believe and trust. SL creates a fictional dollar which parallels to the real life currency. Linden Lab creates the fantasy that it is worth $260L to $1usd... and we all believe it. As long as we all keep believing it, the scheme continues to work. The economy will collapse when a majority decide to stop trusting the value of the linden dollar. If everyone wanted to cash out their Linden Dollars at once, the economy would crash, the fictitious value would be exposed, and the bubble would burst. PS: I'm not sure if you remember... a few years ago, the linden dollar value kept lessening and plummeting. So what did LL do, they hired one employee to present the fantasy that the Linden Dollar will now always equal $260L (approx) to $1usd. and ever since then... that's how it's been. They don't care what the real economic value is. The point is LL wanted to present that their economy is fine, and that their Linden Dollar value will always remain stable... it doesn't matter if it's the truth or not... it just matters what the society believes. And that is the same in real life as well.