Women Raise Online Casino Stakes

UNITED KINGDOM – As reported by the UK Guardian: "…According to the media consultancy firm Screen Digest, 'bored housewives' have become hooked on online games and competitions which promise cash rewards and prizes, a burgeoning industry which is now worth more than £270m (US$489 million) a year in Europe and north America alone.

"The firm found that the typical net gambling addict is a married woman aged over 40, surfing the net when her husband is out of the house.

"…Screen Digest quotes figures produced by internet tracking agency Nielsen, which found that 64 per cent of online punters are women and 60 per cent of them are married. Around half of those who participate online are aged between 35 and 54.

"The report's author, Nick Gibson, said a rise in the number of people with internet access, coupled with an increasingly elderly population with time on its hands, had created a huge demand for online gaming.

"'This demographic is not only avidly playing online games but, over the past 24 months in particular, also appears increasingly comfortable doing so for money,' said Gibson, author of Online Gaming Markets to 2007.

"…The dramatic demographic shift has been so acute that some sites are now reporting that 70 per cent of their players are female. They favour card games such as solitaire, which promise cash prizes for the best player. Also popular are bingo, pub quizzes and casino games, chiefly one-armed bandits, roulette and poker

"…Ladbrokes says women are embracing online gambling at a phenomenal rate. About 16 per cent of women have tried poker in some form or other, although this is still only around a third of the percentage of men who have played…"