SPANISH STUDY ONLINE GAMBLERS
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid analyses perceptions on internet gambling behaviour.
The Carlos III University of Madrid has completed a first-time study on online gambler behaviour after analysing gambling patterns and perceptions among internet punters.
One important conclusion in the report is that the amount of money wagered is often underestimated; on average, a gambler who thinks he has bet Euro 22 a month, in reality has bet Euro 40.
Gamblers also tend to behave more like "internauts" than traditional gamblers, the study notes. "They think that they are browsing the ‘Net, going into pages of this type and gambling, believing that they are still browsing. On the other hand, in the case of conventional gambling, if you are going to make a bet on football scores, playing instant lottery, buying a lottery ticket, or taking part in a bingo game, you are more aware that you are gambling", explained José Ignacio Cases, who has headed and coordinated the rsearch project together with Javier Ruiz, of the del Instituto de Política y Gobernanza (The Institute for Policy and Governance) at UC3M.
The data gathered is based on a survey headed by Professor José Antonio Gómez Yánez and carried with a sample of 1,000 interviews. It demonstrates that gambling is a widespread practice in Spanish society given that 92.4 percent of Spaniards aged 18 to 75 have done so on at least one occasion, and almost half (49.4 percent) state that they habitually gamble.
Given the breadth of the population that gambles, the profile tends to coincide with that of the population as a whole, but gamblers are more often men than women, especially those between the ages of 22 and 55, with medium high social status.
In his report, Cases, notes that a little known reality in Spain is that the gaming industry involves a large number of workers, many millions of euros, with winnings going to a large number of citizens, practically all of them adults. In addition, the amount of money gambled, according to interviewee statements, ranges from Euro 6 to 35 a month, for 55 percent of those interviewed, who on average usually dedicate 10 minutes a day to the pastime.
Spanish players do not consider themselves very lucky, the report notes, but says that confidence in being lucky decreases with age, average social status and frequency of gambling, and is higher among men than women.
