Casino Gaming Grows

The latest report published by the Gambling Commission on remote gambling shows that casino gaming is increasing in popularity, with 1.2% of respondents stating casino games as their preferred form of gambling activity. This is a 0.1% increase on last year, and suggests a sustainable rate of growth that will please the industry.

Some 8,000 adults were surveyed for the report, and of these, 8.4% said that they had participated in some kind of remote gambling activity at least once during the previous month – 0.5% more than the 7.9% figure for 2006. The term “remote gambling” includes betting using a computer, mobile phone and interactive television services. Other findings of interests were that:

  • 10.3% of men and 5.5% of women surveyed admitted to participating in remote gaming, demonstrating that online players are almost twice as likely to be male than female.

  • 18 to 24 year olds are more likely to gamble remotely than any other age group (12.4%) although 25 to 34 year olds and 35-44 year olds aren’t far behind (11.4% and 10.3% respectively).

  • Slot machines are the game of choice for 1.3% of respondents, and again this is 0.1% higher than the figure for the previous year.

  • The most popular game for remote gamblers is the National Lottery, with an impressive 5.5% of those surveyed having tried to hit the jackpot.

  • The two forms of remote gambling that have enjoyed the most growth over the last twelve months are online poker (2.4% from 2.1%) and online betting on sports (2.1% from 1.9%).

  • Most remote gamblers (5.7% of those surveyed) said that they had uses a computer to place their bets, whether this be a desktop, laptop or PDA. 2.5% of respondents reported that they had used a mobile phone to do the same, and 1.8% had placed bets using interactive television services such as Sky Bet.

If the growth in remote gambling continues at the current rate, over ten per cent of the general population could be betting online and by mobile phone within the next four years. The good news from this report seems to be that online gambling is here to stay!

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