Oh the Games People Play
A 2005 study conducted by Great Britain's National Audit Office reveals that nearly 75 percent of the entire British population gambles. The revenues received from all gambling sources in the United Kingdom, including online casino websites, is estimated to be around £53 billion (US$104 billion).
Yet exactly how do the various gambling forms breakdown among the English population? The country's National Audit Office study reveals that although approximately three quarters of all Britons engage in betting, when the National Lottery is taken out of the equation, the number of wagerers drops to some 46 percent, slightly less than half the population.
Listed below are the various kinds of gambling practices and the percentage of British players betting on them. (Note: Because participants could provide more than one answer, the numbers do not add up to 100.)
National lottery 73%
Raffle tickets 58%
Scratch cards 20%
Betting on horses/greyhounds 15%
Bingo 14%
Slot machines 13%
Stock market 12%
Premium bonds 7%
Football (soccer) pools 7%
Casino games (online/offline) 4%
Spread betting 1%
None of the above 10%
It's a Gamblin' Man's World
According to a recent report in London's Sunday Times, males are more inclined to gamble than females. Some 76% of British men and 68% of women gamble each year. The Times report also indicates that approximately three quarters of all British teens are also gambling in one form or another. Nearly 90 percent of young men bet regularly, due in large part (allegedly) to the online gambling industry. With respect to geography, the Scots are apparently the most active gamblers with 48% betting an average of £40 (approximately US$80) every month.
American Online Gamblers
A 2006 survey of the casino industry, carried out by the American Gaming Association (AGA), suggests that only 4% of Americans currently place wagers via the World Wide Web. Furthermore, the results point to the fact that online gamblers are more likely to be younger than most, with the online gambler's median age being just thirty-one years old. Internet gamblers also enjoy higher educations and are generally more affluent than both conventional land-based casino players and the US population in general.
American online gambling enthusiasts, be it at online casino websites or otherwise, also tend to be more active Internet users, employing the Net as a means for conducting any number of day-to-day tasks. This demographic also frequently participates in various other forms of gambling. In addition, the AGA assessment recognizes the fact that gambling online is a continuing phenomenon with 70 percent of online players claiming they only started gambling over the Internet in the last two years.
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