The emergence of online bingo in internet gambling has tapped into extra revenue streams for the expanding market and brought more female gamers online.
The latest analysis from online intelligence firm, Hitwise, shows that gambling sites as a whole attract 8% fewer visits from female internet users than average for all websites, with betting on sport holding particular appeal for male users who account for 3 in 5 visits.
However, “soft-gambling” is drawing in more female players, with bingo websites counting 3 in 5 visits from women.
Heather Hopkins, Hitwise UK research director said: “The industry has enjoyed explosive growth and in order to continue to gain market share, gambling needs to lure new audiences.”
She continued: “Women have traditionally been under represented on gambling websites but bingo is changing that. So-called “soft-gambling” opens the doors to a new audience.”
In the UK, British women are spending increasing amounts of time online, with 30-40% of internet gamblers female, according to a report by research company YouGov (see Online Gaming Industry Reaches The Masses).
The surge in female participation in online gambling is echoed in a study by DFC Intelligence showing that for many services, 50% of users are adult females (see Online Gaming Industry Reaches The Masses).
Lotteries, betting and casino style gambling are predicted to generate over $2 billion for the mobile phone industry in 2006, according to Juniper Research (see Gambling To Generate Over $2 Billion By 2006 For Mobile Phone Industry).
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