Differences between land-based and online gamblers

Gambling is acknowledged as a compulsive pathological disorder that has potential for negative socioeconomic impacts in personal work, social legal and financial arenas. Online gambling has rapidly grown into a US$12 billion dollar industry in 2005 with estimates of between 14 and 23 million players in 2006. The internet provides an ideal channel to service gamblers though its inherent characteristics of ease of access, convenience, immersive atmospherics, and instantaneous results. For gambling providers, the channel offers advantages to traditional land-based enterprises in low-cost operations, access to international markets and new forms of games. For the most part, regulatory measures to manage the online gaming industry are regarded as ineffective. As such, there is a call to conduct research into the online gaming phenomenon. This study compared demographic, behavioral and psychographic characteristics of land-based (n = 229) and online gamblers (n = 63). Using non-parametric t-tests and correlations, several statistically significant differences were identified. Despite the results showing that demographic characteristics cannot be used to identify online gamblers within the sample respondents, students were identified as spending and wagering more money than the people in full-time employment. A behavioral difference was identified, with online gamblers engaging in casino table games significantly more times per month. The analysis of the psychographic differences indicates that land-based gamblers exhibit higher mean scores on the reasons why they gamble, which are for charity, atmosphere and excitement, as a favorite activity, as a social activity, and greater belief in luck. The analysis of perceptions of online gambling is consistent with the literature in that, compared with land-based gamblers, online gamblers have an overall positive disposition to the benefits of online gaming. The study recommends that government and policy makers must understand the reasons for the high incidence of student gambling to develop strategies to minimize problem gambling. In addition, recommendations on points of differentiation between land-based and online gambling channels may assist industry practitioners in effective marketing of their services.