The betting and playing world has grown at a speedy tempo over the previous few years, with expertise making it simpler than ever to entry sports activities and on line casino operations on-line.
Whereas the business is gaining main traction, some research counsel that males usually tend to be recognized as downside gamblers than girls. There seems to be some disparity, with reviews suggesting it may very well be as a result of quite a few components, together with psychological and societal norms.
The newest at Younger Males Analysis Initiative: @YalePolling 's personal @milansingh03 on the stark gender divide between younger males and younger girls on playing. Younger males gamble extra (and thus, lose extra money) however are additionally extra against playing laws.https://t.co/5RmQIf5d1d
— JR (@johnlray) December 1, 2025
We’re taking a look at whether or not the betting world skews male, if there’s nonetheless a gender hole, and whether or not these statistics are beginning to change.
Is there a gender hole within the betting world?
There’s a public notion that playing is essentially male-dominated, however the precise statistics go in opposition to societal opinions in some areas.
In England, a well being survey discovered that males (57%) have been extra seemingly than girls (51%) to have participated in a playing exercise within the final 12 months, however the margins aren’t substantial.
Girls face distinctive challenges with playing, together with larger dangers of experiencing gambling-related harms.
Hear as #BiancaColclough, an skilled by expertise, shares her story.
There’s assist and remedy for everybody. We will help. pic.twitter.com/hcWSrHFCKn
— GambleAware (@gambleawaregb) September 4, 2024
There’s a query, nonetheless, as as to whether playing operators focus extra on males in advertising and marketing than on girls, which might lean into the social notion that males usually tend to have an interest within the sector. A examine by the College of Bristol discovered that a large 98% of all individuals featured in social media-based playing adverts have been males, with 79% being aged 18-34.
Operators have lengthy targeted their advertising and marketing on younger males as a result of they are usually probably the most energetic sports activities bettors, which creates a form of loop the place adverts characteristic males and the viewers finally ends up being principally males too.
However regulators are paying nearer consideration to how playing is promoted, particularly when adverts may enchantment to weak teams, so corporations are beginning to rethink their method.
On the identical time, there’s a gradual transfer towards extra gender-neutral and women-focused campaigns because the business realises there may be an viewers it has largely ignored, though these sorts of adverts are nonetheless far much less frequent than the standard male-centric ones. Whereas each firm will probably be completely different, this vital statistic may probably trace on the business’s target market.
A neighborhood of girls gamblers is effervescent
Whereas it has typically been declared as a person’s world, girls have gotten extra distinguished throughout the business. We spoke with Val C. Martinez, founding father of Betting Women, who defined how there wasn’t something for girls in betting when she first launched her community-like website: “However slowly and certainly, we began to see corporations like FanDuel and others speaking about greatest join with a feminine viewers.
“Girls like to attach with different girls who wager, and proper now we’re one of many only a few locations on-line the place this will occur.” – Val C. Martinez, Betting Women founder
“Since then, there’s been elevated concentrate on increasing into girls’s sports activities, which has attracted extra girls to betting.”
She described how there was the ‘Taylor Swift second‘ which “helped improve consciousness across the feminine demographic, and instantly it was apparent there was a option to converse to girls about sports activities that might unlock a beforehand untapped market.”
Whereas she says the hole remains to be there, Val shares why individuals are becoming a member of her women-based model – “…we’re filling that void. Girls like to attach with different girls who wager, and proper now we’re one of many only a few locations on-line the place this will occur.”
Do women and men wager otherwise?
Downside playing has now turn out to be a distinguished subject throughout the media, with tales of males struggling being extra commonplace. Matt Bresler, CEO and cofounder of Odditt, suggests there are some variations in the best way women and men gamble: “Girls are positively extra risk-averse than males, and are usually much less emotional than males in terms of sports activities betting…”
The CEO continued to develop on the potential influence of the variations: “This implies much less chasing of losses, and extra managed sports activities betting habits general, because the charges of downside playing amongst women and men clearly present.” Though he highlighted how older feminine gamblers take part in social types of playing equivalent to bingo at larger charges than their male counterparts, he shared how the “social and longstanding custom of enjoying bingo within the US” has “a lot much less of an related taboo than with the a lot newer sports activities betting.”
Various kinds of playing additionally entice completely different demographics, which provides nuance to the gender hole. Sports activities betting stays probably the most male-dominated area, fueled by sports activities tradition and advertising and marketing that traditionally targets younger males. On line casino desk video games and on-line slots have a tendency to attract a extra combined viewers, whereas each on-line and in conventional bingo continues to skew feminine as a result of its social, community-based nature.
In the meantime, fantasy sports activities and day by day fantasy leagues sit nearer to sports activities betting of their gender profile, with participation dominated by youthful males. It’s additionally necessary to notice that age, earnings, and ethnicity can form playing conduct and threat simply as strongly as gender, which implies any dialogue of a “gender hole” solely captures a part of a extra complicated image.
These product-specific variations matter, as every carries its personal tempo, threat degree, and potential for hurt, shaping how women and men expertise playing general.
Why younger males have gotten probably the most at-risk group
The the explanation why males are falling sufferer to the perils of playing may very well be due to a couple components, with Dr Robert Lefever telling the BBC that males’s persona traits make them more likely to turn out to be downside gamblers.
When describing why he believes this to be the case, he argued that males are usually extra hedonistic than girls. “Males are typically better threat takers than girls, they are usually moderately pleased with it,” he informed the broadcaster.
One other skilled, Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, informed the writer that there’s analysis that means that extra impulsive individuals have additionally confirmed to be males. Whereas some consultants attribute these patterns to inherent persona variations, researchers warning that such traits are troublesome to isolate, and the noticed gender hole is probably going formed simply as a lot by cultural norms, surroundings, and focused advertising and marketing as by any underlying psychology.
The enchantment of playing seems to be attracting younger males, too, with the Nationwide Council on Downside Playing having said in 2023 that someplace between 60 and 80% of highschool college students reported having gambled within the final 12 months. It’s thought that the accessibility of playing, with it now being viewable in just some clicks on a smartphone, may have prompted the business to swell. Beforehand, individuals must enter a on line casino or sports activities ebook to wager.
Are extra girls changing into susceptible to playing dependancy?
In 2022, the GambleAware charity stated that as much as a million girls in Nice Britain may very well be in danger from playing harms, with two in 5 (39%) probably refraining from searching for assist or remedy as a result of perceived stigma.
Whereas analysis has beforehand pointed to extra downside gamblers in males, may this modification because the business continues to develop and entice audiences?
As operators rethink who they converse to and the way they promote their merchandise, the problem forward is making certain that this development is matched by accountable practices that shield all gamers, no matter who they’re.
Featured Picture: AI-generated through Ideogram
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