/24-7PressRelease/ - January 02, 2007 - Still, some believe that players at online casinos are spending way too much. One such believer is a British politician who believes new regulations and laws should be introduced that would limit the amount people can spend at online casinos via their credit cards or bank accounts.

Because many people have access to online casinos and also access to credit card accounts without high overheads, problems of online casinos seeing major credit card debts being rung up have increased recently, and the problem is getting even more dangerous. Should credit card firms do something on their own? Or do they need a little push from someone like a major British politician who understands the industry?

Credit card firms should place a cap on how much can be spent on internet gambling sites, an MP has said. Mike Weir, the Scottish National Party (SNP) MP for Angus, called for a limit of 1,000 a week and for sites to limit players to one credit card each.

It follows cases where gamblers have spent thousands on other people's cards and concerns over gambling addiction.
But both APACS, which represents the card industry, and Partygaming say there are major problems with the idea.

They say the way to tackle the problem is to deal with the person's addiction, rather than further limiting access to online gambling.

Online gambling has swept the UK, with four million people now playing each month.

Online gambling is forecast to grow by 22% this year and with it fears over the number of players with serious debt. The average online gambling debt in the country is 25,000.

The industry already pays 3m a year into a trust to deal with the issue of problem gambling.

Doctors warned earlier this week that internet gambling and super-casinos will cause an explosion in gambling addiction.

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