Females and Online Gaming | Dearest Lou

Females and Online Gaming

This post was written by Sarah Richardson. Sarah is a mom of two who works part-time at her husband's IT firm. When she's not running around after the kids she enjoys blogging, catching up on some reading and playing the odd game or two on her laptop.

Photo by Alli Worthington

The Guardian, a UK newspaper, recently reported that of the 8.65m iPhone users in the UK, 4.3%, or 372k, have a betting/gaming app on their phone. Factor in the proportion of the 15.3m (2013 figure) of Android users and the amount of people with online gaming apps on their phones is simply incredible.

With the rise of smart phones, barriers have been broken. No longer, and rightly so, is betting viewed as a male exclusive activity. More and more women are getting involved with online gaming, in the UK their participation has increased four times from 2007 to 2010 and the amount of females playing online is nearly equal to that of men.

So why are more and more females becoming involved in online gaming?

Socialising
If you ask most women why they gamble online they will tell you that it isn’t for the cash incentive but for the social element. If we take bingo for example, which is the most popular game amongst females, there is a massive social element to the game.

If you were to play one of the online games at Mirror Bingo, BGO or 888 for example, you’ll see that there are chat facilities available to add a social element to the game. Moderators are nearly always present to make sure the conversation stays clean. 

If you go onto the community section of the Mirror Bingo’s website for instance, you can meet the mods who’ll be keeping an eye on things!

Nearly every bingo site now comes with a chat functions, meaning that you can talk to others whilst playing, something that is forbidden in bingo halls. It is a jovial atmosphere with players often complimenting others on their wins, and with the world moving at such a frenetic pace, for some, this is their only chance for proper conversation.

Whilst for those who are lonely, online bingo offers them a forum to talk with likeminded people and have some fun.

Convenience
Betting has always been associated with men as they are the party that are allowed to go out and play. Women whose main role is that of a mother have historically had little to no time to take part in many activities, bingo on a Wednesday is arguably one of their only excursions with friends.

However, with the rise of smart phones and the internet, homemakers now have the ability to partake in bingo, amongst others. This convenience allows women to play whenever they have a spare second, something that would have been deemed impossible ten years ago. 

If the roles were reversed and it was men that stayed at home and brought up the kids you would probably have seen betting become synonymous with women as they would have the time to partake in it. So now, with it being some much more convenient, it isn’t too surprising that more and more women are playing the game.

Cost Benefit Analysis
When it comes to money there can be no argument that women are betting with it. They are shrewd and calculating and don’t chuck it around like the somewhat idiotic males.

The point being, if you do a cost benefit analysis of online bingo, it makes sense from a financial standpoint.

Stakes for online bingo can be as low as a penny. In fact, the biggest ever bingo win was with just a 30p stake – John Orchard won an incredible £5.9million in 2012. Many sites also offer introductory promotions. At Mirror Bingo for example, you can get a £40 bonus when you deposit £10. This allows you to get a feel for the site and if you get a few wins with your free bonus then even better!

Bingo is low cost and as such women deem it okay to involve themselves with it.


To conclude, women are getting involved with online gaming mainly for the social element it provides, while the rise of mobile technology has made it far more convenient for them to play.

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