Is Online Gaming Still Taboo in Relationships?
Today, online casinos are bigger than ever – in fact, over the last two years, they’ve even left land-based casinos in the dust in terms of revenue. Granted, this in no small part is due to the pandemic keeping gamblers home, but it just goes to show that most people who enjoy slots and blackjack are more than happy to play them at home as opposed to at a real casino.
Despite that, though, online gambling continues to have a bad reputation among non-gamblers, with many considering web-based casinos as nothing more than scams which steal your money and give nothing in return. The general public has, in general, been slow to accept newer trends in technology, especially when it comes to money (look at how long it took for e-wallets like PayPal to go mainstream), and that’s not helped at all by the fact that many scammers will very quickly take advantage of such trends for their own benefit.
As a result, many people have taken to concealing such interests from others, sometimes even from loved ones. We’ve heard many stories of crypto enthusiasts who hide their BTC wallets from their wives, but does the same apply to online gambling? Casino.Online wondered the same thing, and so they decided to poll their audience in order to find out.
The Casino.Online Relationship Study
Casino.Online asked their readers only two questions: one, what does your significant other think of your gambling, and two, what is your gender. After that, they compiled and described the results of the survey in a detailed post which broke all of the data down and offered insight into what this tells us about modern gamblers. While the question about gender demographics is interesting, we found ourselves far more fascinated by the previous one, as it gives us a unique look into the modern reality of dating as a gambler.
About 50% of responders replied that they are currently single – which, as the article suggests, is within the norm when it comes to millennials (the primary target audience for online casinos). Out of the remaining 50%, however, the results were split basically in the middle between two camps: those with romantic partners who do not mind their hobby, and those with partners who certainly do. 27.4% claim that their SO knows about their gambling habits and doesn’t mind, perhaps even supports them – although there’s no way to know that much, as there was no option for “my partner is also a gambler” or “we play together” in the poll.
On the other hand, 11.7% keep it a secret from their SO, 7.8% claim that their partner disapproves of their online gambling, and 1.7% even admit that they were left because of it. Overall, this comes up to 21.2% of people whose spouses, girlfriends/boyfriends, etc do not approve of their gambling. Now, granted, this is less than the 27.4% of people who are open about it and face no negativity, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t think that 21.2% isn’t significant.
What Does the Study Mean?
For better or worse, online gambling continues to remain taboo in the eyes of many – perhaps even too many. Of course, it’s worth noting that this is an anonymous survey, and as such we don’t know the specifics behind each person’s relationship, and why their partner reacted the way they did. Gambling addiction is one of the biggest issues plaguing the casino community, and for all we know, many of the people who disapprove of their partners’ gambling only do it out of concern for their wellbeing, not out of a broad malice for all things involving cards and chips. There is simply no way to be certain.
One thing, however, is clear – the divide between those who accept online casinos as a legitimate hobby and those who don’t is ever present, even in something as intimate as a romantic relationship. That divide is likely to persist, even today when most big names in the online gambling market have proven themselves to be trustworthy and reliable. And today, as many governments have or are planning to implement tighter gambling restrictions, that divide may very well grow even larger.