Laptops the punters' choice for online gambling, report says
New Gambling Commission report looks at how and where Britons are having a flutter
Laptops remain the dominant platform for online gambling, according to new figures from Great Britain’s Gambling Commission, with almost twice as many people gambling through laptops as mobiles and tablets combined.
According to the survey of 3,747 UK citizens, 61% had gambled via a laptop in the last month, compared to 33% who had used a tablet or a mobile – less than 38% had used a desktop.
The difference was less stark in sports betting, with 30% of users having bet on football using a mobile and 17% having used a tablet compared to 57% for laptops. Bingo players produced the biggest difference with 65% playing on laptops and just 14% on mobile.
The new figures will come as something of a surprise, given the importance of the mobile platform for most major sportsbooks. For example, Ladbrokes yesterday reported that mobile accounted for 71% of total sportsbook stakes and 52% of gaming.
The proportion of men and women who gambled on mobile devices was similar at 35% and 30% respectively, but the number of women who had bet in-play was significantly lower at 15% compared to 30% of men. Those within the 25-34 age bracket were most likely to use mobile and tablet devices, bet in-play and gamble outside of the home.
The Gambling Commission survey also investigated some of the marketing impacts of gaming companies and found that 32% of online gamblers had been prompted to spend on online gambling using free bets or bonus promotions.
The most effective channel for advertising was TV which had spurred 22% of respondents into action, closely followed by online at 21% while 13% said they had gambled because of social media; a relatively high number given that only 26% of respondents said they followed gaming companies on social platforms.
Around half of the surveyed punters had one gaming account, but approximately 10% had more than five, with the average punter having 3.5 accounts. Around 0.5% of respondents were problem gamblers, the same rate as the Commission’s 2015 and 2014 surveys.