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Bingo playing in the UK: The influence of demographic factors on play
Abstract
Despite the popularity of bingo, it is a little studied gambling behaviour. This study was conducted in order to obtain general information regarding the gambling behaviour of current UK bingo players. A total of 412 bingo players completed questionnaires about their gambling behaviour. The majority of participants (57%) played once or twice a week with a small percentage (3%) playing five or more times a week. A large percentage of participants also played the National Lottery (82%) and bought National Lottery scratchcards (40%), but very few ever gambled in a casino (6%). An analysis by age revealed that older bingo players were significantly more likely to play more often. However, younger players are more likely to spend more per bingo session. This paper adds significantly to a sparse literature. The data collected add to our understanding of the bingo phenomenon in the UK.
... In our search, we found 17 studies that fit the above two criteria. Six studies were conducted in the UK (Dixey & Talbot, 1982;Dixey, 1987Dixey, , 1996Downes, Davies, David, & Stone, 1976;Griffiths & Bingham, 2002, 2005, one in New Zealand (Clarke & Rossen, 2000), six in the United States (Burger, 1991;Chapple & Nofziger, 2000, King, 1985a, 1985b, 1990Reitz, 2004) and three in Canada (Maclure et al., 2006;O'Brien Cousins & Witcher, 2004. Because previous research with a focus on bingo has been almost exclusively limited to qualitative studies, other sources of data need to be tapped to examine quantitative data on bingo prevalence, player characteristics, and relationships between bingo play and problem gambling. ...
... Within the bingo player population in the UK and New Brunswick, prevalence of weekly participation was 35% and 55%, respectively (Wardle, Sproston, Orford, Erens, Griffiths, Constantine et al., 2007;New Brunswick Department of Health & Wellness, 2001). Similar results were reported in a study of 412 UK bingo players by Griffiths and Bingham (2002), who found that 57% of respondents played once or twice per week, 17% played three times per week, and 3% played five or more times per week. Finally, in Saskatchewan, the most prevalent weekly gambling activities were lottery ticket purchases (34.2%), playing bingo (23.9%), and playing Sport Select (23.5%) (Wynne, 2002). ...
... Similarly, in Nevada, among adolescents, girls were found to be twice as likely as boys to gamble on bingo (Volberg, 2002). The predominance of female bingo players is consistent with previous studies on bingo (Dixey, 1996;Griffiths & Bingham 2002;Chapple & Nofziger, 2000, King, 1990O'Brien Cousins & Witcher, 2004, 2006Maclure, Smith, Wood, Leblanc, & Cuffaro, 2006). In a national survey carried out amongst 7,166 bingo players in clubs throughout the UK, Dixey (1996) reported that the clientele of commercial bingo was overwhelmingly female (85%). ...
Bingo has a long history as a popular gambling game. Previous research on bingo has been almost exclusively limited to qualitative research. Consequently, little is known about the prevalence of bingo playing, the potential risks associated with regular bingo playing, and its possible influence on the development of problem gambling. The present paper provides a review of the literature on bingo in Western countries using published articles focused on bingo and reports of broad-based gambling surveys containing data on bingo participation. Available data show relatively high rates of past-year bingo participation among adolescents. Within the adult population, females and individuals in poor health reported the highest bingo participation rates. Three general groups of bingo players were identified: low-income individuals, seniors, and young adults. It is argued that although bingo is generally viewed by the public as a “soft” form of gambling, it has the potential to lead to significant problems.
... In our search, we found 17 studies that fit the above two criteria. Six studies were conducted in the UK (Dixey & Talbot, 1982;Dixey, 1987Dixey, , 1996Downes, Davies, David, & Stone, 1976;Griffiths & Bingham, 2002, 2005, one in New Zealand (Clarke & Rossen, 2000), six in the United States (Burger, 1991;Chapple & Nofziger, 2000, King, 1985a, 1985b, 1990Reitz, 2004) and three in Canada (Maclure et al., 2006;O'Brien Cousins & Witcher, 2004. Because previous research with a focus on bingo has been almost exclusively limited to qualitative studies, other sources of data need to be tapped to examine quantitative data on bingo prevalence, player characteristics, and relationships between bingo play and problem gambling. ...
... Within the bingo player population in the UK and New Brunswick, prevalence of weekly participation was 35% and 55%, respectively (Wardle, Sproston, Orford, Erens, Griffiths, Constantine et al., 2007;New Brunswick Department of Health & Wellness, 2001). Similar results were reported in a study of 412 UK bingo players by Griffiths and Bingham (2002), who found that 57% of respondents played once or twice per week, 17% played three times per week, and 3% played five or more times per week. Finally, in Saskatchewan, the most prevalent weekly gambling activities were lottery ticket purchases (34.2%), playing bingo (23.9%), and playing Sport Select (23.5%) (Wynne, 2002). ...
... Similarly, in Nevada, among adolescents, girls were found to be twice as likely as boys to gamble on bingo (Volberg, 2002). The predominance of female bingo players is consistent with previous studies on bingo (Dixey, 1996;Griffiths & Bingham 2002;Chapple & Nofziger, 2000, King, 1990O'Brien Cousins & Witcher, 2004, 2006Maclure, Smith, Wood, Leblanc, & Cuffaro, 2006). In a national survey carried out amongst 7,166 bingo players in clubs throughout the UK, Dixey (1996) reported that the clientele of commercial bingo was overwhelmingly female (85%). ...
Bingo has a long history as a popular gambling game. Previous research on bingo has been almost exclusively limited to qualitative research. Consequently, little is known about the prevalence of bingo playing, the potential risks associated with regular bingo playing, and its possible influence on the development of problem gambling. The present paper provides a review of the literature on bingo in Western countries using published articles focused on bingo and reports of broad-based gambling surveys containing data on bingo participation. Available data show relatively high rates of past-year bingo participation among adolescents. Within the adult population, females and individuals in poor health reported the highest bingo participation rates. Three general groups of bingo players were identified: low-income individuals, seniors, and young adults. It is argued that although bingo is generally viewed by the public as a “soft” form of gambling, it has the potential to lead to significant problems.
... This is pertinent in light of two areas of new evidence. First, that many gamblers, including bingo players, combine forms of gambling [18][19][20][21]. Second, that the likelihood or seriousness of harm may be influenced not only by the particular form of gambling undertaken, but also by the number of forms of gambling, and time and money spent by gamblers [22]. ...
Background
Bingo is often understood as a low-harm form of gambling. This view has been challenged by a growing body of literature identifying gambling harm to bingo players in a range of countries. In this study, we aimed to identify which conditions enabled, facilitated, intensified or mitigated gambling harm for bingo players in three populations in Victoria in the context of corporate, technological and regulatory changes.
Methods
Our qualitative study investigated experiences of bingo-related gambling harm in three populations in Victoria, Australia where bingo was popular and structural disadvantage common: Indigenous people in the east, Pacific people in the state’s north and older people on low or fixed incomes in the capital. Data was generated through interviews with 53 bingo players and 13 stakeholders as well as 12 participant observations of bingo sessions.
Results
We found that while bingo is overwhelmingly positive for many players, a minority of bingo players and their families experience notable harm. Harm was generated through traditional paper-based bingo games, new technologies such as tablet-based bingo and by the widespread tactic of placing bingo sessions in close proximity to harmful electronic gambling machines. Overall, the risk of harm to bingo players appears to be escalating due to commercial, technological and regulatory changes.
Conclusions
These changes can be better managed by regulators: reforms are needed to safeguard bingo’s distinct character as a lower-risk form of gambling at a time when it, and its players, are under threat. Significantly, we found that harm to bingo players is intensified by factors external to gambling such as racialised poverty and adverse life events. Strategies that recognise these factors and grapple with gambling harm to bingo players are needed.
... They concluded that different strategies may be necessary to maximize treatment efficacy for men and for women with gambling problems. Several studies have reported playing bingo to be more frequent among female players than other types of games (e.g., Donati, Chiesi, & Primi, 2013;Griffiths & Bingham, 2002;Hing & Breen, 2001;Tavares et al., 2003). Braverman, LaPlante, Nelson, and Shaffer (2013) found that the number of game-types is relevant with respect to gambling-related risk. ...
Background:
Over the past two decades, problem gambling has become a public health issue and research from many countries indicates that a small but significant minority of individuals are problem gamblers. In Norway, the prevalence of problem gambling among adults is estimated to be just less than 1%. To help minimize the harm from gambling, the Norwegian government's gambling operator (Norsk Tipping) has introduced several responsible gambling initiatives to help protect players from developing gambling problems (e.g., limit-setting tools, voluntary self-exclusion, personalized feedback, etc.).
Aim:
The aim of this study was to determine whether the receiving of personalized feedback exceeding 80% of a personally set monetary personal limit had an effect on subsequent playing behavior compared to those gamblers who did not receive personalized feedback.
Methods:
Out of 54,002 players, a total of 7,884 players (14.5%) received at least one piece of feedback that they had exceeded 80% of their personal global monthly loss limit between January and March 2017.
Results:
Using a matched-pairs design, results showed that those gamblers receiving personalized feedback in relation to limit-setting showed significant reductions in the amount of money gambled.
Conclusion:
The findings of this study will be of great value to many stakeholder groups including researchers in the gambling studies field, the gambling industry, regulators, and policymakers.
... The UK is the world's largest single online bingo market, estimated at €312m of gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2013 [1]. A particular feature of bingo in the UK is that it is the only form of gambling in which women engage more than men [2][3][4][5][6], and is consistently associated with lower socio-economic status and deprivation [2,6,7]. In the 2012 Scottish Health Survey, bingo was the most popular form of gambling among women after lottery participation and scratchcards, and was played by 10% of women [8]. ...
Online bingo has seen significant growth in recent years. This study sought to increase understanding of this growth by exploring the appeal of online bingo. Our aim was to examine the content of ten online bingo websites in the UK and analyse a qualitative secondary dataset of 12 female bingo players to investigate the appeal of online bingo. Using two distinct data sources allowed us to assess how the key messages online websites are trying to convey compare with actual players’ motivation to play bingo. Our analysis of bingo websites found a common theme where websites were easy to navigate and structured to present a light-hearted, fun, reassuring, social image of gambling. In addition, the design decisions reflected in the bingo sites had the effect of positioning online bingo as a benign, child-like, homely, women-friendly, social activity. Comparison of the website content with our participants’ reasons to play bingo showed congruence between the strategies used by the bingo websites and the motivations of bingo players themselves and the benefits which they seek; suggesting that bingo websites strive to replicate and update the sociability of traditional bingo halls. Online bingo differs from traditional forms of bingo in its ability to be played anywhere and at any time, and its capacity to offer a deeply immersive experience. The potential for this type of online immersion in gambling to lead to harm is only just being investigated and further research is required to understand how the industry is regulated, as well as the effects of online bingo on individual gambling ‘careers.’
Bingo is a distinct, enduring but understudied form of gambling. It provides comfort and pleasure to many of its players while also causing harm to some. While traditionally seen as low harm, it is being reshaped by technological and regulatory change. Despite this, there is no recent overview of the literature on bingo. This narrative review seeks to fill this gap by exploring the development of literature on bingo since the 1980s, first providing a chronological overview of writing on bingo and then a brief account of major themes in the literature. The literature reviewed was primarily identified through searches of academic databases using search terms such as betting, bingo, electronic and gambling. We find that bingo research makes a number of important contributions: it allows better understanding of groups of overlooked gamblers, corrects biases in gambling literature, highlights the importance of social and structural factors in understanding gambling and employs methodological approaches that are congruent with the people and practices being studied. Additionally, it provides new perspectives on gambling in terms of skill, affect, harm and control and offers a distinct viewpoint to analyse gambling and other phenomena.
This research explores historical perspectives on gambling amongst poorer social groups in order to better understand why the poorest people in society gamble even though gambling seems economically illogical. A principal finding was that pleasure gained from hope of a small win and the agency of making a choice on use of scarce resources may be important in helping poorer people maintain optimism in the face of difficult life circumstances. The paper also explores patterns of illegal gambling entrepreneurship that arose as a response to the desire of the masses to “buy a few days hope” (Orwell, 1937). The paper concludes that where public opinion is out of step with the statute book then an illegal economy will develop to provide the goods or services the public is demanding and that apparently irrational behavior may in fact be a positive experience for many people.
For a long time I have had the gnawing desire to convey the broad motivational sig nificance of the attributional conception that I have espoused and to present fully the argument that this framework has earned a rightful place alongside other leading theories of motivation. Furthermore, recent investigations have yielded insights into the attributional determinants of affect, thus providing the impetus to embark upon a detailed discussion of emotion and to elucidate the relation between emotion and motivation from an attributional perspective. The presentation of a unified theory of motivation and emotion is the goal of this book. My more specific aims in the chapters to follow are to: 1) Outline the basic princi ples that I believe characterize an adequate theory of motivation; 2) Convey what I perceive to be the conceptual contributions of the perspective advocated by my col leagues and me; 3) Summarize the empirical relations, reach some definitive con clusions, and point out the more equivocal empirical associations based on hypotheses derived from our particular attribution theory; and 4) Clarify questions that have been raised about this conception and provide new material for still further scrutiny. In so doing, the building blocks (if any) laid down by the attributional con ception will be readily identified and unknown juries of present and future peers can then better determine the value of this scientific product."
Proposes a theory of motivation and emotion in which causal ascriptions play a key role. Evidence is presented indicating that in achievement-related contexts there are a few dominant causal perceptions, and it is suggested that the perceived causes of success and failure share the 3 common properties of locus, stability, and controllability, with intentionality and globality as other possible causal structures. The perceived stability of causes influences changes in expectancy of success; all 3 dimensions of causality affect a variety of common emotional experiences, including anger, gratitude, guilt, hopelessness, pity, pride, and shame. Expectancy and affect, in turn, are presumed to guide motivated behavior. The theory therefore relates the structure of thinking to the dynamics of feeling and action. Analysis of a created motivational episode involving achievement strivings is offered, and numerous empirical observations are examined from this theoretical position. The strength of the empirical evidence and the capability of this theory to address prevalent human emotions are stressed, and examples of research on parole decisions, smoking cessation, and helping behavior are presented to illustrate the generalizability of the theory beyond the achievement-related theoretical focus. (3½ p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Bingo players are derided in the popular press; the game of bingo is not seen as a ‘worthy’ leisure activity. This paper looks at the role of bingo in the leisure lives of working-class women and enables women to discuss their involvement.
Bingo is played by five million people in Britain and is an important part of working-class life. This paper describes bingo as a product of the ‘culture industry’ as defined by Horkheimer and Adorno, and focuses not on the players, but on the politico-ideological framework within which bingo is provided.
Bingo is one of the most popular and most accepted forms of gambling in the United States today. Yet, despite its popularity, many bingo players are not completely comfortable with the moral rightness of their actions. This participant observation and interview study spanning a 5 year period shows how bingo players use superstitious strategies, such as feelings, hunches and psi, attitudes, and luck to neutralize their marginally deviant behaviors.
The U.K. National Lottery and instant scratchcards are now well established yet there is still little empirical research on the players. This study was an exploratory investigation of the psychosocial effects of these forms of gambling among adolescents (n=1195; aged 11- to 15-years-old). Using a questionnaire, it was shown that large numbers of adolescents were taking part in these activities. There was a significant link between parental and child gambling with most lottery tickets and scratchcards being bought for the adolescents by their parents. Results showed that many adolescents thought they would win lots of money on these activities and that these activities were in general not perceived to be forms of gambling. Six per cent of adolescents fulfiled the DSM-IV-J criteria for pathological gambling, the majority of which were males.
It has been noted that adolescents may be more susceptible to pathological gambling. Not only is it usually illegal, but it appears to be related to high levels of problem gambling and other delinquent activities such as illicit drug taking and alcohol abuse. This paper examines risk factors not only in adolescent gambling but also in videogame playing (which shares many similarities with gambling). There appear to be three main forms of adolescent gambling that have been widely researched. Adolescent gambling activities and general risk factors in adolescent gambling are provided. As well, the influence of technology on adolescents in the form of both videogames and the Internet are examined. It is argued that technologically advanced forms of gambling may be highly appealing to adolescents.
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