While the world is changing around us, it’s fair to say that, throughout history, gambling has been a traditionally male pastime. Walk into any casino, even today, and you’re likely to find that the majority of its customers are male; its products aimed primarily at those belonging to this demographic.
What’s interesting, then, is to see how female participation in gambling has increased in recent years, and this leads to an obvious question: what exactly is it that’s driving this incredibly positive trend?
The answer most likely lies in technology, and the emergence of the online gambling sphere, which has had the effect of making gaming more accessible and inclusive than ever before. We take a look at the positive steps forward that the industry has made in recent years.
Increased female participation
As pastimes go, gambling is truly ancient. Dating all the way back to around 200 BC, when a game known as ‘white pigeon ticket’ was first popularised, it has been enjoyed by millions of people across the centuries.
However, women have not always been fairly represented among this number. While they’ve never exactly been banned, gaming has been a male-dominated endeavour, but finally, all of that is changing.
While male players still outnumber females by a huge percentage, women are beginning to participate more, with 18 percent of today’s players being female. Of these, the average woman actually spends more time gambling than her male counterparts, indicating that when we do play, we most definitely enjoy it.
So why are we participating more? Technology and the growth of the online sector have a lot to answer for, helping to make internet casinos more accessible to women than they have ever been previously.
Accessible gaming for all
In a lot of ways, women are often barred from participating in certain pursuits by nothing more than social stigma. While the world is changing around us, societal norms still largely dictate how we act and behave.
They’re the reason, for example, that little girls often loathe participating in football, and why little boys are reluctant to play with dolls. These outside influences continue to shape us throughout our lifetimes, and are one of the reasons why women might feel less comfortable entering a traditional casino than men.
When industries move online, however, this stigma is stripped away. In the comfort of our own homes, we become instantly anonymous, with no unconscious bias influencing what we do, enjoy, or how we spend our money.
The result is that many women have been able to discover a newfound love of gaming, with roulette being one of our favourite ways to kill time at the casino.
What’s more, we can enjoy these games even when we’re on the go, placing mobile bets, playing slots, and gambling to our hearts content thanks to online casinos like Mobile Wins. Making it easier for us to indulge, these allow us to fit gaming around our many other commitments, such as work, children, and caring for our friends and families.
The result is that women are suddenly empowered to join in the fun via this new industry – one that comes without the preconceived notions or lack of accessibility surrounding its predecessor. For this reason, if no other, we’re infinitely glad for technology and its rapid overhaul of the world around us.