24/11/2010, Players

The Carlos III University of Madrid has recently published a research on gambling behaviour. The study was based on a sample of 1,000 interviews from people aged 18 to 75.

According to the Spanish research, 92.4 percent of the interviewed adults have gambled at least once in their lives, while 49.4 percent of them gamble on a regular basis. The research proved that gambling is a widespread practice in the Spanish society. Almost half of the Spanish adult players (49.2 percent) gamble on a regular basis.

“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”, said Jose Ignacio Cases, one of the research project's coordinators, after analysing gambling patterns and perceptions among internet punters together with his colleague at the Institute for Policy and Governance at UC3M, Javier Ruiz.

One of the most important conclusions in the report was that people usually underestimate the amount of money wagered: a player who thinks he has gambled 22 euros a month, in reality he has bet 40 euros.

Most of the gamblers are men, aged between 22 and 55, with medium high social status, who belong to the working class. 55 percent of the interviewed people dedicate an average of 10 minutes a day to gambling.