The Gambling Habits of Women

Posted by Harry Kane on Sunday, September 17, 2017

At the end of 2014, the gaming industry was sent reeling by the revelation that 52% of all players were female. This was despite the obvious fact that women have always been avid gamers, and the fact that they had represented 49% of the industry just three years previously.

This highlights the fact that women are often subjected to stereotypes when it comes to gaming, and the same principle can be applied to online gambling and casino gameplay. It is often thought that female gamblers predominately play bingo, for example, but recent studies have confirmed that this is far from the case.

In this article, we will look at the prevailing habits of female gamblers and look at how they spend their time.

Appraising the Behaviour of Female Gamblers

The latest study, which was commissioned by the UK Gambling Commission, found that 59% of women in the UK had gambled during the past year. While this is noticeably lower than the corresponding figure of 66% for men, it still represents a relatively large number and will probably surprise those who believe that gambling is a male-dominated industry.

Interestingly, it is older women who are the most active within the gambling sector, suggesting that it appeals to those with higher levels of disposable income. Gambling was most popular among those aged between 55 and 64, with younger females less likely to be attracted to the appeal of casino gameplay.

While this and other female demographics may well play more than bingo, they do not share the same diverse levels of activity as their male counterparts. In fact, just 2% have played at an online casino during the last year, while the level of female participation in sports betting also remains genuinely low. Instead, the lottery represents the most popular form of gambling among women, with 43% of females having purchased a ticket during the last 12 months.

Both women and men are also equally prolific when it comes to scratchcards, with 23% of both demographics having purchased these regularly over the course of the last year.

What Do These Numbers Tell Us?

There are several takeaways from these figures, with the first being that men remain the most active across all forms of online and casino gambling. In fact, the one area where women do hold an edge is offline bingo, with 8% of females having played this during the last 12 months as opposed to just 4% of men.

It is also fair to surmise the women are more likely to be casual gamblers who enjoy the occasional game of chance. After all, the lottery and scratchcards remain the classic embodiment of such games, and while bingo requires a basic sense of numeracy and hand-eye coordination it is also driven by random outcomes and a keen sense of opportunism.

This is also reflected by the fact that problem gambling was far less prevalent among women, with just 0.1% reporting any kind of issue in 2015. The corresponding rate for men was 1.1%, with female participants clearly benefiting from a more relaxed and casual approach to on and offline gambling.

Some of these numbers are certainly interesting, while they prove that you should never buy into stereotypes when appraising the behaviour of certain groups!