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Archive for August, 2009

The global legal framework for Internet gambling is a complicated mix of laws and regulations. In the United States, both federal and state statutes apply. Gambling is generally regulated at the state level, with federal law supporting state laws and regulations to ensure that interstate and foreign commerce do not circumvent them. The Wire Act, which prohibits gambling businesses from using interstate or international telecommunications wires to knowingly transmit or receive bets, is the main federal statute used to
prosecute such activity. Foreign countries and jurisdictions have taken a variety of approaches to regulating on-line gaming, including legalizing some forms, seeking effective regulatory approaches, and prohibiting it entirely.

The major participants in the credit card industry have tried to restrict the use of their cards for Internet gambling by prohibiting cardholders from using the cards to gamble on line and developing transaction codes that banks can use to block payments at their discretion. Many large U.S. credit card issuers also use codes to deny authorization for Internet gambling transactions, and U.S.-based banks do not accept gambling Web sites as merchants. Despite attempts to circumvent these efforts by using improper coding, the success of these restrictions has caused gaming analysts to lower their 2003 revenue projections for the on-line gaming industry.

There have been numerous well-conducted epidemiological studies of the prevalence of sexual problems in the United States, Europe, and globally [8]. These studies have used differing criteria for identifying sexual problems, yet have produced somewhat similar results. Most studies have found that complaints of low desire are the most common female sexual complaint. Studies have also found that complaints of low sexual desire increase with age, relationship duration, number of small children, relationship discord and symptoms of anxiety and depression [9–11]. These studies have been criticized as not distinguishing between sexual problems (transient issues not requiring medical intervention) and sexual dysfunction (persistent, pervasive problems in adaptation requiring medical intervention).

The limitations of epidemiological data in providing estimates of the frequency of sexual dysfunction in the general population can be appreciated by a careful analysis of the most comprehensive studies to date, the Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behavior [8]. This study collected data from 27,500 men and women in 29 countries. Sampling techniques had to be modified for some countries such that comparisons of rates across countries is somewhat problematic. The question pertaining to low sexual desire was ‘During the last 12 months have you ever experienced for a period of two months or more when you lacked interest in having sex?’ If the answer was affirmative, the subject was then asked to rate its frequency as occasionally, sometimes or frequently. This study has been quoted as finding that approximately 33% of women in Canada and the United States complained of low sexual desire. However, this number represents an aggregate of all women reporting occasional, periodic and frequent problems with low libido.