“The restrictive health situation could have led some of the respondents to overinvest in digital activities, including those of gambling and games of chance”, justifies the OFDT in a press release.
Gambling has increased with more than one in two respondents (59%) having made a bet for the first time in the last twelve months.
At the head of the most practiced, online lottery games remain the most popular with respondents with nearly seven out of ten players having made a bet during the year.
This is followed by sports betting (50%), eSport games (33%) and poker (32%). Casino games and horse betting occupy the last places.
In terms of gambling and games of chance, only the lottery and sports betting are framed by a legal offer in France. Access to eSports games, in particular, is on illegal sites.
The average profile of players remains predominantly male (71%), as already indicated by the last study in 2017. Women are, however, in the majority in the profile of lottery players, while men tend to turn to sports betting. or poker. The average age is around 34 for new players compared to 37 for more regular players.
The medium and long-term consequences on the behavior or health of players are still «poorly known», according to the study. But players with recent practice seem to have more difficulty regulating their behavior than players with more habitual practice. 39% of new gamblers would be more at risk of having an excessive practice of gambling against 24% for the others.
The assessment of «problem gambling» is based on the Canadian Excessive Gambling Index (CIJE), which analyzes different situations observed in gamblers’ practices, such as the desire to gamble again to regain lost sums, the impacts observed on health or still the need to borrow money to continue playing.
Survey conducted on a panel of 1,983 people who made at least one online posting in 2021.