Profiling lady luck: an empirical study of gambling and problem gambling amongst female club members

This paper helps to address a deficiency of gender specific research into gambling. It focuses on gambling participation, gaming machine play and problem gambling amongst 1,257 female respondents to a telephone survey of 3,000 members selected randomly from the membership lists of six of the largest clubs in Sydney, Australia. Using predominantly nonparametric tests, results identify a range of behaviors that characterize the gambling activities of female club members when compared to their male counterparts. Testing four hypotheses revealed that, when compared to male club members, the females had a higher preference for bingo, lotto, lotteries, pools and gaming machines; they gambled less frequently on off-course and on-course betting, casino table games and hotel gaming machines, but more frequently on bingo; they were more likely to display patterns of gaming machine play that maximize playing time; and they experienced problem gambling at levels comparable to males. Further research questions arising from the study’s findings are discussed.