"It brings out the gamblers’ more competitive side," said June Cotte, associate professor of marketing at the University of Western Ontario and one of the study’s authors.

"When not seen as reserved solely as behaviour for an outing or a special occasion, gambling is more likely to become a pernicious, insidiously integrated component of a consumer’s life."

As part of the study, 20 regular casino gamblers and 10 regular online gamblers were interviewed. Pictures were used as stimuli to find out what gambling feels like and how it is perceived by the participants.

Results show online gamblers bet more frequently and aggressively, the study found.

As one potential solution, the study’s authors suggested that governments encourage large corporations like those that run the major Las Vegas casinos to enter a new, regulated online gambling market. The major Vegas operators include MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment Inc

Gary Thompson, a spokesman for Harrah’s, said the company has already supported a study looking at the pros and cons of legalizing and regulating online gambling.

Depending on how the government would structure its approach, he said Harrah’s would be interested in exploring the market opportunity.

The study also suggested government sponsors in Canada might enter the market and regulate it with measures like more effective age checks when signing up, setting limits on bets and implementing mandatory "cooling-off" periods that force gamblers to stop betting for a set amount of time.

($1=$1 Canadian)

(Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski; Editing by Frank McGurty)