Profiling Internet Gamblers - Part 1: Canadian Online Gamblers

25 October 2009, Milton Shaw

The following is the first of a series of stories offering summarized insights into the online gambling demographic, as revealed in a study undertaken by Professors Robert T. Wood and Robert J. Williams of the University of Lethbridge, Canada. 

Their complete study, titled 'Internet Gambling: Prevalence, Patterns, Problems and Policy Options' was published in January 2009 and provides a comprehensive statistical profile of the typical internet gambler. 

Background

In perhaps the most detailed profiling study of Canadian internet gamblers completed to date, player data was compiled from both online and telephone surveys conducted during 2006/07.  The online survey polled 12,521 online gamblers  (approximately 10% of respondents were Canadian). The telephone survey polled 8,498 Canadian adults, 6,010 of whom were gamblers and 179 of whom gambled online.

Internet gambling was defined to include:
- the purchase of lottery tickets online;
- online bingo;
- online casinos;
- online sports bets;
- online wagers (bets on horse races); and
- online games (real $) played against other people;

Also considered, but analyzed separately, were high risk online stock trades.

The Canadian internet gambler

The study results provided a very interesting snapshot of the typical Canadian internet gambler, who was found to be:

• predominantly male (84%);

• middle aged (35.5);

• well educated (40% college educated);

• earning higher than average disposable income ($74,600 average, 37% over $100,000); and

• lost on average $540 per month.

Another very interesting outcome of the study was the incidence of problem gambling online, compared with problem gambling from all sources.  17% of internet gamblers were found to be problem gamblers, compared with 3.2% of gamblers across all mediums. The clear inference is that the rate of problem gambling on the internet is significantly higher than the rate from non-internet sources.

Not surprisingly, the rate of participation in internet gambling had increased in the last few years, with 2.1% of respondents gambling online in 2007, compared with 0.4% in 1999, 0.6% in 2001 (Ontario) and 1.7% in 2005 (Ontario).

By far the most popular game played online was the lottery, with 93% of internet gamblers having bought lottery tickets online.  This was followed, in order by instant scratch tickets (68%), slots (34%), bingo (10%), sports betting (9%), casino table games (8%), poker (8%), wagering (5%).

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