Are women the better gamblers?

The "battle" between the sexes is as old as humanity itself. Since time immemorial, the question has arisen in various fields whether women or men can accomplish the respective task more successfully. The gambling company 888 Holdings in New Jersey in the USA has now also dealt with a similar question. The result: women are apparently more successful than men, especially when betting on sporting events. However, the provider emphasizes that it is not a representative study. A look at the results is nevertheless interesting.

New rules in the USA cause boom

Only a few months ago, the gambling law in the USA was significantly changed. It has always been up to each state to legalize and regulate sports betting within its own borders. For years, this was previously not possible, as gambling was completely banned outside individual regions (such as Las Vegas). As a result of the change in the law, a real boom has developed in the USA, as more and more states are opening their markets to sports betting fans. The gambling giant 888 Holdings took this as an opportunity to thoroughly analyze the gambling and betting behavior of its customers.

In particular, the focus was on the question of which gender would behave more successfully when gambling. All data that the company has been able to collect since January 2019 were evaluated for this purpose. And the results are quite surprising, reported on the website Indiancustomer.in.

Clearly stronger than men: women with a good yield in sports betting

If a look is taken at sports betting, it becomes apparent here, for example, that women are significantly more successful with betting tickets than men. The so-called return on investment (ROI) was examined here. This is actually an economic indicator that evaluates the relationship between profit and investment. Converted to sports betting, this is the ratio between stakes and winnings. Women could show an average ROI of almost 20 percent (19.79 percent), which is a good yield. Men, on the other hand, fared much worse here. The ROI is minus 4.6 percent and thus in negative territory - and of course at a significantly worse level than for women. In plain language, this means that while the majority of all men make large losses with their sports bets, women make a profit of almost 20 percent on average with their bets.

With the help of the data, however, not only the sexes were examined, but these were also divided into age groups. Accordingly, the most successful women are to be found between the ages of 35 and 44. Here, according to the gambling giant, the ROI is a whopping 129.6 percent. In the same age group, it looks enormously disappointing again from a male perspective. Here the ROI is only 0.88 percent. It is even more bitter for the men in the age group between 25 and 34 years. Here, the male ROI is minus 8.47 percent, while the female ROI is many times higher at 127.06 percent. Accordingly, the most successful male tipsters are to be found in the age group between 45 and 54. Here, the ROI is 16.9 percent.

The curious result, but not representative

The results of the study were not really to be expected. However, the gaming giant emphasizes that it is not a representative study, but merely analyzes the data from New Jersey over the last few months. Specifically, it says: "The data shows trends among a group of people at a point in time in a geographic region. It is not sufficient to make a blanket statement that women play better than men." At the same time, it says, "To make that statement would require much more extensive studies that would have to be conducted over decades and take into account a range of factors. It is by no means the case that the data from this study are therefore worthless. It's just that they are so insufficient to make such a judgment."

But for the time being, the scientists were unable to answer why the women in New Jersey played significantly more successfully than the men in recent months. It is assumed, however, that women approach sports betting in a significantly more rational and balanced manner. In addition to this, it is assumed that the women act significantly more cautiously than the men when choosing their bets.

However, this cannot be generalized either, but a biological difference between the sexes can basically be ruled out for the time being. Instead, influences such as psychological factors, childhood or upbringing, or strategy could play a role.