Profiling Internet Gamblers - Part 4: Game play patterns
28 October 2009, Milton Shaw
The following is the fourth in 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
An online survey of
12,521 gamblers conducted during 2006/07 was used to compile a statistical
profile of the typical Internet gambler. 7,921 respondents from 105
different countries provided detailed responses to the survey.
Findings of other studies were also drawn upon to provide
some insight into typical game play patterns of Internet gamblers. That
is, what games they played, how much they gambled and when/how often/how long
they chose to play.
Average spend
The typical Internet gambler lost on average $195 CAD per
month playing online. Interestingly, average monthly spend by internet gamblers
was found to be significantly higher than the corresponding value for
non-internet gamblers. It was also found that Canadian players lost
substantially more than the average player from all countries, with an average
spend of $541 CAD per month.
Most popular games
Not surprisingly, poker topped the list of the most popular
internet gambling game, both in Canada and Internationally. 64% of
International net gamblers played poker, followed by 26.4% who played casino
games and 23% who bet on sports. Wagering (horse and dog race bets 12.7%),
lotteries (11%), and bingo (7.4%) rounded out the list.
From a gender point of view, skill games like poker and
casino table games were played predominantly by males, while online bingo was
preferred by females.
A prior study done by Wood and Williams (2007) indicated
blackjack to be the most popular online casino game (28%), followed by slots
(25%), video poker (16%), bingo (12%) and sports betting (6.2%) as the games
played most often. An
American Gaming Association study (2006) study also found blackjack to be
the favorite, played by 78% of polled online gamblers, followed by video poker
(65%), slots (60%), roulette (37%), craps (29%), and baccarat (18%).
Home or office
Around 93% of respondents indicated that they do most of
their online gambling from home rather than the office. This was
consistent with prior studies on this question, with Wood and Williams (2007)
finding 87% of net gamblers played at home, and a recent
eCOGRA survey revealing 90%
of players primarily played at home. The clear inference leading on from
this is that the vast majority of online gambling takes place in the evenings.
The eCOGRA study went on to report modal play patterns of 2-3
sessions per week (37% of sample) at 1-2 hours per session (27% of sample).
|
