Women are 18% of the online gamblers, which is noteworthy and which has a lot of important implications. For one thing, many people are going to be quick to point out that this is nowhere near a majority or even a plurality. As such, some developers may see this as a sign that they do not need to worry about the needs of the female demographic in the first place. However, it is important for people to actually think about why women are 18% of the online gamblers.
A number approaching one in five is still nothing to sneeze at, and this figure is not cause to dismiss the female demographic altogether. In fact, it is important for developers to see the female demographic as something of an untapped market in this regard. If they were able to attract more female gamblers, they would manage to increase their overall audience membership by such a wide margin that managing to appeal more to women actually does make sense from a business perspective.
Some people will look at the fact that women are 18% of the online gamblers and come to the conclusion that this means that women are inherently uninterested in gambling, at least compared to men. However, that is a huge leap that is not actually supported by the statistic at all. It doesn’t account for the fact that nearly one in five online gamblers is a woman, and it says nothing about the possibility that online gaming companies could increase their female audience members. Making anything a boy’s club automatically not only closes it off to half the population, but it closes it off to the men who think differently and who don’t feel comfortable under these circumstances.
Many women do not feel comfortable at online gaming websites. They might feel that some of the highly objectified images of women signify that they are not welcome in these sites, and they might leave on that basis alone. Some of the slot games that people will find in these spaces specifically market themselves using objectified images of women or feature objectified images of women as a matter of course. If developers ended up specializing in themes that were more gender-neutral and less likely to offend women, they would attract more female customers.
It is true that there are also a lot of cultural barriers concerning women and gambling. Men are the ones who are conditioned to be risk takers who are willing and able to do what it takes to get ahead in all circumstances. When women go to websites like http://www.casinopokiesonline.com.au/ they are not going to have all of that cultural backing behind them. However, many women today are specifically working to subvert a lot of these cultural expectations. They just need some encouragement from marketers. Women are already starting to dominate the gaming market in general. They could start to do the exact same thing for the online casino gaming market, or at least come close to doing so. Many other companies are already doing this now.
