America and Canada should legalize and regulate online betting to PROTECT gamblers, a new study claims.

Boffins at the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas found online gaming was readily accessible across North America via the web even though it is OUTLAWED or in a “legal grey area” across the two nations.

They said worldwide spending on web gambling was around £5 billion a year but has the potential to be more addictive than land-based casino play.

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Tests were carried out on 20 regular casino gamblers and 10 regular online gamblers. The online players were found to bet more frequently and more aggressively.

“Online brings out the gamblers’ more competitive side,” said UWO associate professor June Cotte, one of the report’s authors.

The study says large corporations like those running Las Vegas casinos should be tasked by governments to regulate online gambling with measures like more effective age checks, betting limits and “self-exclusion” schemes which force gamblers to stop betting for set amounts of time.