A newly released public health survey out of France reveals that, while fewer people gamble now than in 2014, when the last survey was compiled, there’s been a spike in at-risk and problem gambling in the country.
The survey, conducted in 2019, looked at 10,000 people aged 18 and above across France. Research firm Observatoire des jeux (ODJ), Santé Publique France and the Observatoire Français des drogues et des toxicomanes found that an estimated 47.2 percent of people gambled last year.
Men were more likely to have gambled—50.4 percent, versus 44.2 percent of women. This proportion, too, was down 10 percent from 2014, when 57.2 percent of men reported betting in the previous 12 months.
Only 28.6 percent of those surveyed said they gambled at least once a week, and just 1.2 percent played daily.
The most popular form of gambling is lottery, with 65 percent of gamblers saying they bought tickets for draw-based games—but again, the reported number was down from 72 percent 2014.
The most alarming statistic concerned the total gambling spend, and who spent it, according to iGamingBusiness.com. Just 10 percent of players accounted for 82.8 percent of total gambling expenditures, and just 1 percent of this group accounted for 49 percent of spend. This was attributed to increased online gambling, horse racing, betting and poker. Sports betting in particular saw customer spend rise markedly, the survey noted.
One million people in France may be classified as moderate-risk gamblers, and 370,000 as problem gamblers, the study concluded. Most at-risk gamblers were younger men from modest social backgrounds with lower levels of education and income. They were also frequently unemployed. They are also more likely to be sports bettors.
