YELLOWKNIFE - Online gambling is a hidden problem in the NWT, says a woman who bets about $100 everytime she logs on.

Unlike most other forms of wagering, Internet-based gambling can happen almost completely unseen.

Some Northerners spend a lot of time and money gambling on the Internet. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo illustration Dr. Robert Williams: Alberta professor studying online gambling. - photo courtesy of Dr. Robert Williams

'It's one of those things people don't want to talk about,' said one online gambler in the NWT.

She believes there is definitely a problem, even though it may not yet have surfaced for all to see.

The gambler, who asked that her name and home community not be used, said some people in her town are losing 'serious money' on the Internet.

One loses so much she has to borrow money to buy cigarettes, the woman said.

She also knows a couple of people who sometimes skip work to gamble online.

'We're talking about intelligent, well-educated people,' the woman said.

She has been wagering on her computer about twice a month for a year, after stumbling upon a gambling website.

Over that time, she said she is close to breaking even and doesn't consider it an addiction problem. 'I'm not to the point where my mouth waters.'

Her game of choice on the Internet is slots. It may cost her up to about $100 per session, if she doesn't win.

Rosa Wah-Shee, an addictions consultant with the Department of Health and Social Services in Yellowknife, said the extent of online gambling in the NWT is difficult to measure.

'We don't have any statistics on online gambling being a problem in the North,' Wah-Shee said.

However, she added, 'I would say all types of gambling would be a concern, not just online gambling.'

No one has sought help for online gambling at the Nats-ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve.

'I know there is a lot of online gambling and lots of regular gambling,' said executive director Melvin Larocque, explaining regular gambling includes such things as bingo and card games.

Larocque said only one person has ever sought help for gambling at the addictions treatment centre, but it was not for the online variety.

Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger, the former minister of Health and Social Services, said online gambling has not arisen as a major issue for government.

'We're struggling more with alcohol and drug addiction,' he said.

However, Miltenberger said he knows gambling on the Internet is hugely popular, noting some people in Fort Smith play it almost every day.

Dr. Robert Williams, a professor in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Lethbridge, has plenty of facts and figures about online gambling.

Williams and colleague Dr. Robert Wood, a sociology professor, are currently conducting the world's largest study of the problem.

The study has found that, in Canada, about 1.5 per cent of the adult population gambles online.

Using that percentage, the number in the NWT might be just over 600, based on a population of 41,861.

However, unlike the provinces, there are no casinos or highly-addictive video lottery terminals in the NWT.

Among all gamblers across Canada, three to four per cent are problem gamblers. The percentage among online gamblers is eight to 10 per cent.

'It's a significantly higher percentage,' Williams said, noting problem gamblers may gravitate to the Internet and may wager more at home without social constraints and while intoxicated.

Using the study's percentages as the basis for calculations, there might be roughly 50 to 60 problem gamblers online in the NWT.

Williams noted there has never been a study of problem gambling in the NWT.

Eighty per cent of online gamblers are male, and 50 per cent are aged 21 and younger.

'Poker is the most common game played online,' Williams said, adding the most popular poker game is Texas Hold'em.

Internet-based casinos have been growing since their introduction in 1995, he noted. 'Revenues have gone through the roof.'

In 2005, online gambling generated an estimated $12 billion in revenues worldwide.