Perceived risk & gambling Essay Example for Free

Perceived risk gambling Essay As of 2008, there were more than 2,000 internet gambling sites worldwide; with combined revenue of these websites being estimated to be north of $18 billion (Overview of Gambling Regulations, 2008). Due to its obscene rate of growth, potential harm to its consumers and growing ease of accessibility, internet gambling is viewed by many as a major cause for concern. Don’t expect the apprehension towards online gambling to ease up any time soon. Casinos, of both the online and brick-and-mortar variety are expected to aggressively increase their marketing budget over the next half decade. With online gambling recently legalized in Nevada, and many states preparing to follow suit, Simon Holliday, director at H2 Gambling Capital predicts that nearly $4 billion could be spent by the internet gaming sector over the next five years (Jackpot! , 2012). The Gambling Act of 2005 was introduced to modernize gambling regulations. The act brought increased marketing freedom for gambling companies, but only along with responsibility regarding the advocacy of the potential dangers of addiction. It also required the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy and the anticipated goal was to introduce, acknowledge and bring to light to substantial harm which can stem from problematic gambling. According to the Gambling Act of 2005, in order for a company to obtain their license and legally operate in the marketplace they had to ensure that: i. Gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; ii. Children and other vulnerable people are protected from being harmed or exploited by gambling; and iii. Assistance is made available to people who are, or may be, affected by problems related to gambling. (GamCare: gambling research, education treatment) With the changing landscape in the industry, it is fair to question whether these regulations are still relevant, and more even importantly, whether companies are still operating within the bounds of the Gambling Act of 2005. Technological advances have led to online websites readily available around the clock, potentially made gambling available to minors (via online casinos, online sports betting) and lost control of potential hazards concerning online users, those being: sobriety (users drunk/high while on a online gaming site); awareness (many ads online promoting gambling, very few raising awareness); and whom is using the sites (minors, youth, seniors, or problematic/addictive users). All of this unsurprisingly raises concerns regarding whether the current regulations are equipped to handle both current and future gambling disputes. Gambling consumption has no doubt increased over the past decade, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future as regulations are expected to loosen while the marketing budget of online casinos are expected to abruptly expand (Jackpot! , 2012). The bulk of the marketing expenditures will be geared towards youth via interactive media sources; interactive online ad-agencies figure to be the main beneficiary. Though casinos will continue marketing to those who frequent physically existing casinos (a crowd mainly over 50) via television, magazine and billboard advertisements, the majority of the expanded marketing budget figures to be aimed at online users – the vast majority of which are in their 20’s (Jackpot, 2012). There seems to be an array of ethical concerns tied into all of this – whether children and â€Å"other vulnerable people† are still protected from potential harm, how readily available is assistance to those who are affected and is it being outweighed by the onslaught on pro-gambling marketing, concerns regarding online gambling (sobriety, minors, problem identification), and ultimately whether the advocacy is still a priority. A widespread fact in the gambling industry is that 20% of the gambling population accounts for 80% of the gambling industry’s revenue (Galanda, 2007), essentially implying that when evaluating the entire gambling population, 20% are pouring a considerable amount of money into the industry and could potentially be labelled as problematic gamblers. With casinos paying more money and attention to marketing, and marketing research, they are able to identify the age, demographics, frequency and income of their market. Via frequent gambler cards, visas and other channels (surveys for points/credits, casino identification/reloadable slot cards), casinos are able to pick and choose who they zero their marketing efforts in on, whether that be seniors, twenty-somethings or potentially the 20% we earlier identified as problematic gamblers. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was incorporated into the Gambling Act (2005) as a means of regulatory control and functions as a built-in, self-regulating instrument intended to designate ethical standards to which companies must adhere to. Gambling companies possessing information about their customers, and using this information to formulate a marketing strategy and plan, raises ethical concerns and seeds the question of whether this type of behaviour corresponds to the regulations and ethical policies within CSR. Three main differences between gambling now and nearly a decade ago when the Gambling Act was introduced are: (1) distribution channels have increased accessibility to gambling and exposure to gambling promotion; (2) the technological innovation developed by online casinos is tremendously exceeding government control efforts; and (3) gambling has simply become an international phenomenon – the gambling population is aggressively expanding (Social Marketing Problem Gambling, 2011). Though the effects and consequences of problem gambling are more extreme and common than ever, the reasons described above explain why it is so difficult for government to control the issue, and moreover why the trend is currently liberalizing ideologies rather than attacking the corporations and addressing the underlying issues.

Potential and Challenges for Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils

Agriculture occupies a larger portion of global land area (about 35%) than any other human activity (Betts and Falloon, 2007). Agriculture soil stocks have been suggested as potential measure to sequester atmospheric CO2 to help stabilize its concentration in atmosphere and has been estimated that 0.4-0.9 Pg C year-1 can be sequestrated within global agricultural soils (Paustian et al., 1998). This has been supported by the fourth assessment made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that identified agriculture as among the economic sectors having the greatest near-term (by 2030) greenhouse gas mitigation potential, largely via soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration (Smith et al.,2007). However, currently, there is much uncertainty and debate due to uncertainties associated with quantifying the impact of the various crop management practices on green house gas emission ,the spatial and temporal scales involved in quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from, and C sequestration in, agro-ecosystems, uncertainty of future climatic conditions that affect type of crop mana...

Article review of Finance and Growth; King, R. and Levine, R. Essay

Introduction For a long time, there has been a wide ranging debate among economists on the relationship between financial development and economic growth. A large number of them are of the opinion that finance is not a major factor in bringing about economic development. According to the article, these arguments are misplaced because all financial indicators are related in one way or the other to economic development. This is because financial growth or allocation has a direct impact on the distribution of capital throughout the economy. Moreover, the predestined elements of financial growth indicators largely forecast consecutive value of economic growth indicators (Robert & Ross, 1993, p. 729). Throughout the article, the authors use data that is consistent with their main argument; that financial services inspires economic development by increasing the rate of capital accumulation as well as by advancing the effectiveness   with which the economies utilize that capital. However, the authors do not associate any particular policies of financial sectors with long run economic growth. Instead, the article mainly associates the measures of executable government strategies to ensuing economic growth to make policy suggestions. At the onset, the article begins by examining the current relationship between financial growth, developments and their sources. Additionally, the article also scrutinizes the potency of the empirical link between the main indicators of the level of financial growth in the financial sector and the long-run tangible per capita GDP gains. Keeping all economic and other indicators constant, the authors state that they found a strong and partial connection between the average yearly rate of tangible per capita GDP growth and the average level of growth in the financial sector (Robert & Ross, 1993, p. 721). The article terms this study as a contemporaneous relationship because it looks at average growth rates and levels of financial growth over the same period of time. In investigating the relationship between financial and economic growth, the authors of the article first look into some of the major financial indicators used today. The first and second financial indicators are mainly used to establish the relative significance of particular financial institutions. These indicators reveal that commercial banks are more likely to offer risk sharing information compared to central banks (Robert & Ross, 1993, p. 718). On the other hand, the third and the fourth financial indicators are mainly used to investigate the overall domestic distribution of assets.   Any financial system that channels majority of its credit to state enterprises may not be helping the economy at all compared to one that allocates much of its credit to private enterprises. To support their arguments, the authors also present the readers with statistical summaries that prove the existence of a relationship between the four financial indicators and the overall economic growth. The article also presents an analysis of some countries that registered faster economic growth and those that registered slow economic growth (Robert & Ross, 1993, p.719). This analysis reveals the existence of a relationship between increased financial depth and the role played by financial institutions including central banks. More importantly, the analysis proves that countries with quicker rates of tangible capital accumulation and allocation appeared to have more developed monetary systems. On the basis of the theoretical study of endogenous technological transformations, the authors emphasize the idea of creative destruction. Through the application of the above mentioned endogenous technological developments, the authors are able to come up with a more absolute Schumpeterian vision of economic development through integrating major roles for financial intermediaries. For example, the selection and financing of insubstantial and substantial investments that result in innovation. The authors also use widespread regressions to measure the strength of a partial connection between economic growth indicators and the overall financial development. There are a number of ways through which the relationship between financial development and economic growth can be interpreted. However, the most widely accepted interpretation is that a strong relationship between financial and economic growth is a reflection of a correlation resulting from contemporaneous impacts of several shocks on economic and financial development. Much of the investigation carried out by the authors is largely meant to establish whether the prearranged element of the financial sector is related to development and its sources. The results of the investigations prove that the predetermined element of financial growth is a good forecaster of economic growth (Robert & Ross, 1993, p. 743). Moreover, the findings of the investigation reveal that financial growth forecasts both the rate of progress and the effectiveness with which economies distribute physical capital and the rate of physical capital accumulation. This is an indication that the relationship between economic development and financial growth is not merely contemporaneous. Instead, it shows that finance plays a key role in bringing about economic growth.    References Robert G. K. & Ross L.,(1993). Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might be Right .The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(3) (Aug., 1993), pp. 717-7

Spark Telecommunications Is Planning For March A Step...

1)INTRODUCTION 1.1 SUMMARY Spark telecommunications is planning to march a step forward into the next generation home security solutions. With the booming technology Spark has drawn great attraction with it s concept of Morepork home security system. The firm has appointed it s former transformation Director Gemma Croomb as the General manager of the home security system. The concept being the owners could monitor their properties through smart phones from anywhere is pretty impressive for a start. However there are existing companies that provide similar service that could be accessed through wifi network , Sparks advanced technology where it enables it s users to access the application from anywhere is unique way to attract more customers. Spark has not yet decided if the service would be available to non spark broadband customers as well. Croomb says We are living in a world where it is disrupted or be it disrupted , so we are making a range of smart useful products which makes our customers life easier. More than 70 percent of our customers now own a smart phone and this is estimated to grow around 80-90 percent in few years. New Zealanders are using smart hones as remote control for life , so it makes sense that they would want to use an app to look after their homes (PULLAR-STRECKER, 2015) 1.2 STRUCTURE OF REPORT S.NO TOPIC PAGE . 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