News

The average online casino gambler is a woman aged 46 to 55, who plays two or three times a week, has played for two or three years and plays for one or two hours each time, a new study says.

Conducted by eCOGRA, a British gaming industry self-regulatory body, the Global Online Gambler Survey is being touted as the largest study to date into player behaviour and attitudes to the industry.

The United Kingdom recently legalized online gambling to regulate the industry and boost tax revenues.

Online gambling is still illegal in the United States, opposed mainly by the American Gaming Association, which represents brick-and-mortar casinos. But last July, the AGA softened its stance somewhat, supporting a year-long Congressional study to evaluate the impact of online gambling.

The eCOGRA study said that 54.8 per cent of online casino players may be women, but many more men (73.8 per cent) play poker, the most popular online game.

The average male poker player is aged 26 to 35, plays one or two tables at a time and plays with 6 per cent to 10 per cent of his bankroll at a table at any one time.

The study arrives in the midst of a debate in England over the regulation of online gambling, and on the heels of another British survey, released on Jan. 16 by an online consultancy called Morse, which stated that gambling can hurt not only the player's pocketbook, but business as well. Gambling in the workplace, Morse said, is costing firms almost $700-million (Cdn,) each year in lost productivity.

Morse continued, citing research claiming that 30 per cent of office workers had either placed a bet online or knew someone who had, that those who gambled on the Internet at work were likely to spend only 13 hours a year doing so.

The eCOGRA survey stated that only 10 per cent of women gambled at the workplace.

But eCOGRA also noted that its results were surprising because the majority of gamblers were not playing to win money over the long term, but were doing it for the entertainment value.

When players across all forms of gambling were asked, they cited such reasons as "to relax," "for the entertainment and excitement" or "to relieve boredom." The answers heavily outweighed reasons such as making money or simply winning, suggesting they see gambling as a form of leisure activity.

ECOGRA also said that the vast majority of players were ahead or in the hole for about $300 a month, or about $75 a week, "less than the cost of a night in the pub with your mates and a taxi home."

More than 89 per cent of online gamblers play from home, the survey said.

A similar survey, of Ontario gambling, was conducted by the Responsible Gambling Council, an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of problem gambling.

The Ontario study — a summary was released last week, with the full report expected to be released tomorrow — found that 34.9 per cent of teens said they're already gambling and another 36 per cent admitted to regularly buying raffle and lottery tickets.

The majority of Ontario teens cited entertainment as their main reason for gambling, 20.7 per cent said they did it because they needed the money, and 15.3 per cent said it was to win back cash they had already lost.

About 13 per cent teens who play poker admitted they spend more money than they can afford on gambling.

The eCOGRA project was undertaken by the Betting and International Gaming Research Units at Nottingham Trent University, and focuses on the attitudes and behaviours of online gamblers.

The project involved 10,865 players from 96 countries between September and October last year. In addition, 15 focus groups were held in the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany and Sweden.