Melbourne-based market research company Roy Morgan Research conducted a study on the number of Australians that bet on poker machines within the last three months and their attitude while playing. According to the research house, 2.9 million Australians aged 18 or over played pokies over the past quarter and 42% of those (or approximately 1.2 million people) did this at least once a week.
Researchers found out that more than a half of the Australians who bet on poker machines over the last three months (51%) had decided how much they would spend before they started playing. The rate is a bit higher – 52%, with more frequent players.
Furthermore, 51% of the players who played pokies at least once a week said that they enjoy playing no matter whether they lose or win. About 46% of all players who played during the reviewed three-month period gave a positive answer to the question whether they enjoyed playing even though they were losing money.
People were also asked whether they played to win. About 44% of the interviewed frequent players gave a positive answer. Of all players who played within the reviewed three-month, 42% said that they indeed played to win.
Yet, it turned out that players who played poker machines at least once week were not that likely to just play spontaneously – about 25% said that they tended to play without planning that in advance. About 33% of the players who played in the last three months said that their game was the result from a spur-of-the-moment decision.
About 41% of all interviewed frequent players said that they usually return to the same place to play and about 30% of all players said that they frequented a particular poker machine venue. More than 27% of the people who bet on pokies at least once a week said that they used their winnings to continue playing and about 22% of all interviewed players said that they did so.
Angela Smith, Group Account Director at Roy Morgan Research, said that while the 1.2 million people who played pokies once a week or more than once were not necessarily gambling addicts. Yet, looking into their behavior would help experts “highlight some of the potential drivers” of problem gambling and thus, assist people with such problem behavior.
