How has the pandemic affected the behavior of men and women in betting?

The unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit many industries on a financial level, not least the betting and gaming sectors.

Jack McKinnell detail dwelled on lockdown trends and the indirect effect that the pandemic has had on the behavior of both male and female bettors.

“The betting industry has grown over the years,” he explained with reference to Statistic data. “In 2014, the industry grew by more than £8bn following the payout of winnings. Four years later, it has almost doubled to over £14bn a year. With only a third of the population betting or playing the lottery, that's a lot of money."

As live sporting events have been suspended to prevent the spread of the virus, sports betting has undoubtedly fallen, but people have been looking for other ways to gamble, as shown. ONS statistics.

“But how has the lockdown affected this industry?” he continued. “Bets placed were the lowest in 10 years, with nearly 30 million fewer bets placed in April 2020 compared to a year earlier.

“It was a month after live sports were put on hold and in August the industry saw rates rise again as live sports returned again. and in June the Premier League and the races were held behind closed doors.

“During the first lockdown, from late March to mid-June 2020, roughly one in six people started a new form of betting – around 17% for both men and women. One in three also started betting more often, with men doing so slightly more often than women.”

To sum it up, before the lockdown, men and women favored various types of betting, from sports betting to the lottery or even bingo. However, according to the University of Stirling , the pandemic has changed people's individual preferences.

“Playing the lottery and betting on online races generated some interest, but online sports betting was the most popular among men. Women had a close gap between online sports, online racing, and the lottery, with the latter just outperforming the rest.

“However, during the lockdown, these habits have changed. Nearly 30% men have completely stopped betting. As live sports came to an end almost internationally, online sports betting became popular, although 5% men did start playing the lottery during this time and about 4% men started betting on virtual sports and racing.

“It's the same with women's betting habits in lockdown. Many of them stopped betting altogether, although there was a larger percentage of those who first started playing the lottery and betting on virtual sports. Women also started playing bingo during the lockdown and about 3% of them took part.”

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