A first-time study in Spain analyzes gambler perception

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Carlos III University of Madrid

Another conclusion of the report is that the amount of money played is underestimated: on average, a gambler who thinks he has bet 22 euros a month, in reality has bet 40 euros. Regarding on line gambling, the player stands out more as an internaut than as a gambler. "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 this research together with Javier Ruiz, del Instituto de Política y Gobernanza (The Institute for Policy and Governance) (IPOLGOB) atUC3M. The data gathered in this study, which is based on a survey headed by Professor José Antonio Gómez Yánez and carried with a sample of 1,000 interviews, demonstrate that gambling is a very widespread practice in our society given that 92.4% of Spaniards aged 18 to75 have done so on at least one occasion, and almost half (49.4%) 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.

A little known reality

The goal of this research, according to José Ignacio Cases, head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology at UC3M, is "initiating reflection from the academic point of view on a little known reality in Spain: that of the gaming industry, which 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 6 to 35 euros a month, for 55% of those interviewed, who usually dedicate 10 minutes a day to this activity on average.

The main motivation behind gambling is beating the odds, according to the experts, although Spanish players do not consider themselves very lucky. In this sense, there is a"sociology of luck": confidence in being lucky decreases with age, average social status and frequency of gambling, and it is higher among men than women". All this data is spelled out in detail in a monograph published by the IPOLGOB entitled: "Una aproximación a la percepción sobre el comportamiento y las actitudes sociales respecto al juego y al juego on line en España"(An approach to the perception regarding behavior and social attitudes toward gambling and on line gambling in Spain), sponsored by the CODERE Foundation, which according to its authors, comprises a innovation research study because it gathers information about online gambling in the first study of its kind carried out in Spain.

Source: Carlos III University of Madrid