Female Sports Viewing and Betting Habits in Survey Focus
When 9,804 people responded to the UK Gambling Commission’s first ‘Gambling Survey for Great Britain,’ the popularity of gambling amongst females was far higher than many predicted. Over a 12-month period, 58 percent of female adults said they had participated in some form of gambling. Thirty nine percent of these confirmed they had gambled on activities other than lottery draws alone.
The ‘Taylor Swift effect’ may be responsible for the surge in female Super Bowl viewers. ©Getty
Other recent surveys suggest British females are watching more sports than ever before, and tennis has more female viewers than males. Regular female bettors gamble more on men’s football than any other sport. That is a shock, as seventy percent of females who gamble regularly also place bets on horse racing. The figure is six percent higher than males!
A Swift Increase in Female Super Bowl Fans
Sport, in general, is rising in popularity and importance amongst television viewers. ‘The Attention Index,’ a new report released by Sky at the end of July, states Sky Sports viewing was up 17 percent in 2023. Sports fans watched nearly one billion hours of sport on Sky during the last six months.
In 2023, female viewing of Sky Sports was up 18 percent, and under 35s viewing showed a 26 percent increase. Football is by far the most watched sport on Sky. In total, a staggering 313 million hours of live football were devoured by Sky viewers over the six months.
It was the Super Bowl that lit up screens in February. The showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Fransisco 49ers smashed Sky’s previous records with an impressive 49 percent increase in viewership. Possibly aided by ‘the Taylor Swift effect,’ the event also saw a surge in female viewers, reaching 100,000 more women — a 93% jump from the previous year.
Nothing Little About Sky’s Love of Darts
Sky’s new lovechild is darts. The meteoric passage of 16-year-old Luke Littler to the PDC World Darts Championship final dramatically boosted the event’s viewership. An average of 3.1 million people watched the Paddy Power-sponsored decider.
Sky says, “A combination of Luke’s rising stardom and greater public awareness of the sport brought darts into mainstream culture.” Littler was a guest on the Jonathan Ross Show, Comic Relief and appeared on The Sidemen podcast with social media stars.
“It was clear that Luke Littler was going to be a household name when Sky Documentaries commissioned a celebratory access-all-areas docuseries ahead of the 2023/2024 PDC World Championship. The documentary, ‘Darts,’ will come out later this year,” says the broadcaster.
What Hits and Misses the Target?
Darts did not previously rank highly among the UK’s male and female gamblers. In 2023, Stats Perform and Women’s Sports Group commissioned independent research – via YouGov – to “understand the value and opportunities of women’s sports and women bettors.” Based on 2,500 male and 2,500 female gamblers, its findings suggested less than one-in-twenty of either sex bet on the sport.
The key takeaways of its survey, which came out heavily in favor of football, were:
- Women’s sport appeals equally to both male and female gamblers.
- Male and female sports gamblers want more opportunities to bet on women’s sports.
- Female sports betting has not yet caught up to the general popularity of women’s sports.
- Both regular male and female gamblers are key audiences for men’s and women’s sports.
- Regular sports gamblers who bet on women’s sports consume more sport online and on mobile.
- Regular female sports gamblers are more motivated by the social aspect of betting and by promotional offers than regular male sports gamblers.
- Female sports gamblers who bet on women’s sports are more likely to be under 45 than male sports gamblers.
- Women’s football is more popular with male sports bettors than many men’s sports.
- Lack of knowledge is the main reason for more men not betting on women’s football.
Bingo Is the Winner in the Female Stakes
The ‘Gambling Survey for Great Britain’ report had a default analysis setting using participation during the past four weeks. As with gambling participation during the past 12 months, male participants (52 percent) were more likely than female participants (44 percent) to have gambled in some form during the shortened timescale.
Male survey participants considered themselves more likely to buy National Lottery tickets, partake in any online betting (or in person), play an in-person or online slot, and play casino games online (or in person). However, a higher proportion of female survey participants said they had bought scratchcards and played either online or in-person bingo.
