Whether someone has either a drug, smoking or gambling addiction, they are beholden to same feelings and constraints.  All cause the same deteriorating debilitation to the individual and gambling online is no different than gambling in a casino they both can bring about the same disastrous results.

All addictions are the same in that they cause the same effect.  Due to the addicted persons addiction they continue to do whatever it is even when it no longer present pleasure to them.  In fact, many continue when it creates adverse reactions and misery.  Another marker for addiction is that they can rarely, if at all, control their own actions.  A final commonality for the addicted is that they continue even when the outcome is negative or can even be labeled as an illness.

None is more evident than gambling addictions.  Most gambling addictions do not end well.  The majority of the time the addicted person will not recognize their addiction or cease to change their behavior in any way until they have lost everything.  Everything includes their money, their family, their whole world.  It takes being at the bottom for most of them to recognize that gambling is not healthy and that the pay off is not right around the corner.

Most have to make a separation from everything they know in order to even see what is going on. The downward spiral is apparent from the exterior but completely denied within the individual.  Online casinos have the same effect on the gambler and consequences as land-based casinos and maybe even an added extra because any barriers to play have been eradicated.  The online casinos are available 24/7.  Most online players do so just for the entertainment and maybe to do away with boredom the internet seems to give them an outlet to play.

Online gambling has increased the addiction and allowed those people who might not have gotten out of the house to go to the casino to begin playing from home, so the addiction might be sparked in people who otherwise may never have played at all.  This phenomenon has led to 2/3 of the population exhibiting gambling problems and 1% of those being obsessive gamblers.