The New Players of Internet Poker

Seema Shah 04:28 Apr 25th, 2006 Poker

In delving into the world of internet poker, women its been discovered are fast becoming the ones to watch out for. The increase in women’s disposable income is now becoming a seriously lucrative courtship with many online gambling sites and they are here to stay. With greater autonomy in their personal lives and fewer women being tied down with the responsibility of marriage and children, their spending power has escalated at a rate that not only keeps those shop ‘tills’ ringing but has also given women the freedom to spend as they wish. With online gambling now a mainstream activity, the trend has also seen more women taking the lead in online poker playing. We only need to see the rising number of gambling sites catering exclusively to women and the increase in celebrity female poker players to know that this is the market to be in.

Until very recently, the online poker boom was thought to be a male dominated arena with less than 10% of players at a typical casino poker game being women. But online gambling industry experts have recently set out to investigate internet poker trends that have led to the widespread increase of online poker websites. Two studies conducted in the US brought out interesting and unexpected revelations in terms of demographics and the overall popularity and appeal of online poker.

Surprisingly, the studies, one conducted by PC Data “Spotlight on Games”, show that over one third of online poker players are female with women being the fastest growing segment of the online poker playing public. The studies also revealed that an overwhelming majority of female poker players prefer to play at online poker sites. In fact, only 1 of every 6 women preferred online poker to regular poker!

As betting matures online, a large part of it will take place around casual games which just happen to be popular with women players. In fact, despite the assumed male dominance of online gambling, women do make up a significant share. Current figures show that this is approaching around 47% of all internet users being female.

Online gambling providers therefore need to take serious note of women players if they are to maximise the overall package and in turn increase the value and loyalty of these players. It would seem that although men are currently ahead of their female counterparts in online gambling, women gamers are rapidly creeping up the stakes to become one of the most powerful demographics to woo and within a space few years, they will become soon been commanding the same attention and fees as men. Watch this space!