Thursday, January 18, 2007

A new survey, commissioned by consultancy firm Morse, claims that online
gambling while at work is costing English firms more than £300m every year
in lost productivity. The research reveals that 30 percent had used an
online casino, bought a lottery ticket or made a bet while on office time -
or new someone who had. The survey suggested that such employees would
accumulate 13 hours gambling on the Internet over a year. According to the
firm conducting the study, such quick bets amass to a substantial dent in
company productivity. The rise in popularity of online casinos and other
internet gambling outlets, matched with unmonitored Internet provided at the
majority of workplaces, is blamed for tempting employees with less than a
fully sustained focus in the office. The survey, which quizzed 664 office
workers nationwide, showed that 38 percent of men admitted to online
gambling at work, compared with 21 percent of women. Regional spread was
also revealed: 35 percent of those in Northern England were making bets on
company time, compared with 29 percent in the South and 27 percent, the
least, in the Midlands.