A newly released report spearheaded by the University of Bristol and IFF Research revealed that women are more likely to gamble due to a number of financial, social, and psychological factors. The report also revealed that operators’ use of gendered advertising such as female endorsements and gender-specific campaigns also had a significant effect on their gambling behaviour. GambleAware commissioned the research in order to determine why women in Britain were increasingly drawn to a variety of different types of gambling as well as expose the impact these habits have had on them and their personal lives.

This report is as telling as it is alarming, and highlights how British women are more susceptible to the perils of gambling addiction. This, of course, goes beyond enticing deals operators promote. True, an offer such as a no deposit bonus win real money online casino for free is tempting for many players – whether men or women. Yet, females tend to be more likely to gamble when providers’ choice of advertising is gendered, through the use of female celebrity endorsements or campaigns targeting different cohorts of women.

Why Now?

The prevalence of women’s participation in gambling shows no signs of slowing down, with recent data revealing that around one million women are at risk of experiencing gambling harm. While certain studies have found that women tend to visit popular online casino and bingo sites most frequently during the winter months, the amount of research available examining the impact of gambling on their lives is still very limited.

It has been noted that women’s engagement with gambling products and venues increased once the gambling landscape in the UK began to veer towards online gambling activity. This allowed them to avoid traditionally male-dominated environments such as bookmakers in favour of betting on their smartphones. There was also a noticeable shift in regards to the previous gambling stigma, whereby gambling products became more normalised and the activity was recognised as a legitimate pastime due to the increase in advertising and sponsorships catering to female players.

Data has shown that women are more drawn to chance-based forms of gambling such as lotteries and bingo in comparison to men, who tend to stick to skill-based games. Some researchers have suggested this is because women tend to avoid products that require technical knowledge; however, others have argued that it all comes down to gender roles and the activities girls engage in from childhood.

Influencing Factors

Despite all this information, there still remains a limited understanding of the factors that influence their engagement with gambling products. The lack of studies on the topic exposes a well-recognised male bias in gambling research and policy, with GambleAware’s chief commissioning officer, Anna Hargrave, stating that the increase in female participation as well as the rate of women experiencing gambling harms call for further research to be conducted.

The results of the study indicated that there are many factors that drive women in Britain to seek out gambling opportunities, which unfortunately often result in them experiencing gambling harm. GambleAware expressed concern over the impact of marketing and advertising on driving these women to turn to gambling to escape from stressful financial and personal situations. The charity has previously highlighted the warning signs to look out for if you or a loved one may be experiencing gambling harm, including spending unaffordable sums, losing track of time, and becoming more aggressive.

Unfortunately, a lot of women turn to the exciting world of online gambling looking for a dopamine boost as a way to escape boredom and stress, not anticipating that a couple of clicks betting on a game could lead to them losing their job, home, friends, and even family. While some women go in search of a community due to the large social aspect the past could bring, However, by far the biggest driver remains financial, with the prospect of winning life-changing amounts of cash relieving financial strain and pressure.

The report made several recommendations on what needs to occur to better support women suffering from gambling harm and create more gender-specific services since women have been proven to be more easily influenced by gambling adverts and marketing than men. Additionally these services need to cater for the various factors that leave these women with no other choice than to turn to gambling such as domestic violence, financial issues and poor mental health.