Women in Gambling: Facts & Statistics

For years there has been a stigma around women in gambling, which has largely kept the topic in the dark. However, more and more people are acknowledging that women gamble, and that this topic is worth studying, too. We present some of the latest research on this aspect of gambling in our latest article.

Certain stereotypes have prevailed which have led us to think that women are not as interested in gambling as men, but what are the facts? We’ll examine recent studies and share the latest statistics about this fascinating topic. To learn more about female gamblers, you can use our links below to find the topic that most interests you.

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• The Stigma Around Women and Gambling
• Female Gamblers: Statistics to Know
• Female Sports Betting Facts
• Final Thoughts

The Stigma Around Women and Gambling

The truth is, stereotypes exist, also in the world of gambling. When we picture gamblers, we often picture men. This image has especially prevailed when it comes to the topic of problem gambling. People assume that it is an issue that affects men more than women.

In a way, it is similar to our stereotypes about other types of gaming, like video games and social games. Though this was stereotypically thought of as a men’s pastime, women participate in a vast number of games, too.

Why is it important to be aware of these stigmas? Well, for the industry, it means that there is a large demographic of people out there who may be interested in the products they are offering. As within the video game industry, we might discover potential customers if we market to a new audience.

It’s also an important health and social issue. In Spain, for example, the Minister of Health recently turned her attention to problem gambling among women, and made strides to bring this issue to light. Problems can only be solved if they are first publicly acknowledged, so being aware of how addictions affect women is an important step in the process.

Beyond that, some of the statistics around women in gambling are just plain interesting! So read on to expand your knowledge and find out how female gamblers actually are represented in the world.

Female Gamblers: Statistics to Know

Many interesting statistics have been uncovered by studies into women and gambling. For one, it seems that women are less likely to be involved in sports betting than men, having a preference instead for casino games and lottery, which have some kind of social aspect to them.

Smaller Differences Than Expected

However, among many statistics, it seems the difference between women’s gambling frequency and men’s is not significantly less. For example, one study showed that men tend to bet on E-sports 3% more frequently than women. 16% of men indicated they use or know about gambling habit management tools, as opposed to 14% of women – just a 2% difference. Similarly, there is only a 2% difference in how many British men and women opt to use self-registration to exclude themselves from gambling platforms or casinos, 6% men versus 4% women.

A study on how advertisements influence potential gamblers revealed that men are slightly more likely to respond, with 46% men versus 42% of women responding positively to the question. Interestingly, social media posts affected women slightly more, at 56% versus 50% of men.

A study from the UK Gambling Commission gave some other valuable insights. 42% of female participants shared that they had gambled in the last four weeks leading up to the study. Their preferred methods of gambling were on lottery draws, bingo and scratchcards. The most significant age range amongst them was between ages 35-54, with older and younger women not gambling quite as much. However, slots seemed to be more of a draw for younger women.

Online Ladies Gambling

Trends have been revealed within online gambling, too. Data which was checked by the University of Liverpool showed that online gambling has become more popular for women, especially as lotto draws moved from solely in person to also online. Furthermore, those women who do participate online are more likely to play more frequently, for longer time periods, and for more money than their male counterparts. This is particularly for slots, casino games, bingo and other instant draw-type games.

Stats That Stand Out

Despite the similarities in gambling behavior between men and women, there are some statistics that certainly jump out. The biggest might be the fact that men tend to have much more debt accrued thanks to gambling than women: $40,000 – $75,000 more debt to be exact. There is also a significant difference between sports betting habits between men and women, it seems. We will look at this in more detail in a later section.

This leads us to the question: Why are men more likely to acquire debt or to engage in gambling in general? A 2016 paper by researchers Gloria Wong, Nolan Zane, Anne Saw, and Alan Ka Ki Chan, “Examining Gender Differences for Gambling Engagement and Gambling Problems Among Emerging Adults” frequently cites other studies that have shown that: “Men tend to have higher levels of sensation seeking and risk-taking than women.” Due to these factors, men “were more likely to engage in gambling,” and also to form problematic behaviors with it.

The paper also has interesting findings regarding the effects of gambling on the mind of a young adult, as it particularly studied those around the college years in the US. The study was inspired by trends among young Americans towards problematic gaming behavior, which rose quickly in a relatively short period of time.

Other studies have delved deeper into the why of gambling for men and women, suggesting that these groups tend to participate in gambling for different reasons. For men, it might be for the thrill – and lack of impulse control cited in the paper above. For women, it seems more to do with finding a form of escape, especially from emotions of sadness and anxiety. Recognizing these differences will probably help in the long run to identify how to help players that are relying on gambling as an unhealthy coping device.

Who Gambles More, Overall?

Though statistics vary from country to country, in the US, men gamble at about twice the rate of women, with 69% of men indicating they gamble regularly or have gambled, and 36% of women indicating the same.

However, there is an interesting caveat to this finding. When it comes to daily betting, women tend to engage more than men. This is especially true for daily sports betting. Though men tend to bet more overall in the sports betting arena, and to gamble more in general, daily players are more likely to be women.

What is also interesting is that in terms of problem gambling, men lead the pack, but women’s rates are also catching up. The UK Gambling Commission analyzes risk based on several factors and identifies problem gaming rates alongside moderate and low risk rates in men and women. In recent years, the moderate risk rate has become more equal between these groups, and the Commission has some theories as to why that is.

For one, yes, it is true that more women may be engaging in gambling for the first time. In general, access to online gambling has made these products available for a much bigger group of people. Those who do not enjoy the aspect of going to place bets or play in person might not mind participating at home on their own, though stats on women in gambling show that women tend to prefer more social games.

The other issue has to do with how we tabulate these statistics, according to the Gambling Commission. They point out that we might be looking for markets of problem gambling that are easier to spot in male subjects than in female subjects, and we may need to reassess how we study this topic. During the release of their study in 2022, the UK Gambling Commission shared that it is working on coming up with different evaluation metrics to better serve all genders that it surveys.

Here’s another fact! According to reports in 2019, in Sweden, female gamblers outnumbered male gamblers in terms of those who had problematic habits. 64% of addicted players were women. Speaking on this issue at the time was expert Professor Anders Håkansson, who confirmed that part of the problem was how gambling has moved to taking place online.

Female Sports Betting Facts

As we mentioned above, there are interesting differences where it comes to sports betting trends among men and women. Studies indicate that 25% of British men participate in sports betting of some kind, and that far fewer women do in the UK. Furthermore, while 30% of male players are interested in live betting, only 11% of women are.

A study in 2020 in the US found that 20% of men participated in sports betting of some kind in comparison to just 7% of women, indicating a much bigger gap than the previous stats we have encountered. This could be because sports has a bigger male viewership, generally speaking, but also because sports betting has only recently become legal across the US. As it becomes more normalized, perhaps trends will increase in female gambling as well.

Final Thoughts

This article has surely been full of food for thought when it comes to the topic of women and gambling! Though many interesting studies have been conducted, there is more research needed, especially in terms of what the UK Gambling Commission refers to as a lack of adequate measurement to address women’s problem gambling specifically.

It’s also worth noting that, though gender is certainly a factor in gambling attitude and behavior, there are many other cultural and societal factors that affect the individual’s propensity towards gambling. As the 2023 paper, “Gender Differences in the Propensity to Start Gambling” by Alejandro Díaz, Jaume García and Levi Pérez suggests, it is not only about gender but also about policy and availability of games. In fact, their paper suggests that these factors are significantly more important in determining how people relate to the world of gambling.

This research cites another paper which suggests that, “recent literature has commented on a lack of gender specific research, both into gambling in general and problem gambling in particular.”

Caroline Criado-Perez’s fascinating book, Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men has much the same conclusion, though not about gambling specifically. Instead it highlights the lack of gender specific research in a host of areas that affect all parts of human life and wellbeing, and how this often leaves women in the dark, understudied.

We hope this will one day change. It will be interesting to know how gambling really affects women differently, if at all. More information is always better in order to make informed decisions, from personal life to state policy.