UK gambling participation in 2013 fell below levels set in 2012 according to a report commissioned by the UK Gambling Commission.
The UK Gambling Commission have released an interesting study called “Gambling Participation: Activities and Mode of Access”.
The study was created in conjunction with ICM Research and the nuts and bolts of it is a series of questions about people’s gambling participation over a four-week timeframe.
Here are some of the nuggets of information I saw gleaming out of the ink.
Gambling Participation Levels Are Down
It was interesting to note that over the sample size taken an average of 55% of people had participated in at least one form of gambling or another, compared to 57% back in 2012; once again it was males leading they way with 60% of the hairy beasts participating in gambling activities and 50% of the fairer sex.
Online gambling figures were up slightly with 15% admitting to an online flutter or two compared to 14% in 2012; and once again it was the males who were mashing more buttons than the females with 19% v 11%.
How People Gamble
It was interesting to note that the most popular gambling game was a game that most of the UK wouldn’t even class as a gambling game.
43% of respondents participated in the National Lottery, followed by other lotteries (13%) and scratch cards (10%).
The most common option for betting type was the bog standard High Street bookmaker, although online gambling was the most popular method of gambling for more complicated lines such as spread betting.
73% of those asked said they only gambled ‘in person only’, whereas 16% had gambled both ‘in person’ and ‘online’ – 11% had gambled ‘online’ only.
When drilling down to gambling type it was interesting to see that only 16% of players chose to place their National Lottery bets online, whilst 76% still preferred to place them ‘in person’.
The other big favorites in the ‘in person’ mode of betting were ‘other lotteries’ (85%), Bingo (80%) and Greyhound Racing (75%). The most popular forms of online betting were Spread Betting (84%) and Sports betting (45%).
Demographics
It seems the older you get the more likely you are to have a flutter, with 60% of male respondents coming between the ages of 35-65+, and the female activity peaked at 62% of women between 55-64.
Online gambling is more prevalent in the 35-44 year old age bracket with 20% of men and 22% of female players admitting they participated in online gambling.
Full details of the full study can be found here
