The new addicts are female

Recent reports are suggesting that the new online gambling addicts are not men but women and Bingo in particular is proving popular. These are women who have previously not been near a betting shop due to the stigma attached to that but who might have gone to a Bingo hall once or twice a week; but now with the anonymity provided by being at home some are spending many  hours each day behind their computer screen. Bookmakers have also not been slow to pick up on this phenomenon and are specifically targeting the female population by using a lot of pink in the advertising and even resorting to male pin ups. Unusually it is the younger women in the 25 to 35 age group who are gambling; presumably young stay at home mothers; and not the stereotype blue rinse brigade. The reason for this is not clear; we know that the average male gambler enjoys the buzz of competition and therefore prefers card games or for that matter other sports where they can demonstrate superior skill or knowledge but ladies tend to go for games of pure chance such as slots or in particular Bingo where some suggest there clients are 80% female. The start is always innocent enough, after all you can play a lot of Bingo for a few Euro especially if you don’t buy too many tickets but often these same ladies are sidetracked into other offerings on the site which can be played with much higher stakes.