CNR release research results on Italian market
News on 8 May 2018
News on 8 May 2018
Italy’s National Research Council, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) released the results of a study on the Italian gambling market, both terrestrial and online, late last week.
Undertaken by the CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, the new IPSAD® and ESPAD®Italia data for 2017 reveals that while adult gambling is on the rise – primarily the scratch&win and sportsbetting sectors – the younger, student demographic is declining, even across the online channel.
Key insights include:
More than 17 million Italians played at least once in 2017 (42.8 percent), compared to 10 million in 2014 (27.9 percent).
Over one million students (36.9 percent) had a flutter, down from 1.4 million (47.1 percent) eight years prior.
Problem gambling has quadrupled in the past 10 years, CNR said, estimating problem gambling in 2.4 percent of the gambling population in 2017 as opposed to 0.6 percent in 2007. The institute flagged Southern Italy has a hotspot for problem gamblers but points out that problem gambling had decreased in the student demographic (15-19) to 7.1 percent (2009: 8.7 percent). Problem gambling in students is led by sports betting and scratch&win games, the study found.
In general, men (51.1 percent) play more than women (34.4 percent). Among students, the percentage of males is almost double compared to women (47.3 percent vs. 26.3 percent).
As a whole the most popular games are Scratch & Win games, followed by Lotto and Super Enalotto. Sports betting is the third most popular vertical growing from 18.3 percent in 2010 to 28 percent in 2017.
In the younger, female demographic the most popular game is Gratta & Vinci – a scratch&win game managed by Lotterie Nazionali Srl. Sportsbetting leads in the younger, male demographic.
63.7 percent of players between 15 and 64 spend on average less than Euro 10 per month on gambling.
1.4 million Italians played online in 2017, as well as 200,000 students (2016: 240,000). Their preferred channel was mobile.
Underage gambling was highlighted in the results with 10.8 percent of students admitting they ignored the no-under-18 age limit. CNR estimates as many as 580,000 underage students gambled during 2017.
