YouGov survey finds prevalent negativity towards online gambling

YouGov has conducted an extensive study across 18 markets entitled "Global Gambling: The Consumer view in the gambling debate" which focuses on understanding attitudes towards gambling in some of the world’s biggest markets out there, including the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, the Nordics, and other interesting locations with a storied track record for gambling.

YouGov dived deep into public perceptions of the industry and sought to understand them better through a series of questions that were posed to the general public in each of the surveyed regions. One of the questions was whether people agreed that people who live in the same jurisdictions as themselves should be allowed to gamble online.

Hong Kong, Canada, and the United States were the top three countries where people agreed with 50%, 48%, and 46% in agreement varying from "strongly agree" to "mostly agree." This is still an even split in the general public towards gambling. Germany, Spain, and Singapore were the least likely to agree with the question posting 27%, 32%, and 32% of approvement respectively.

Next, the survey sought to find out whether the general public agreed with the statement that online gambling should not be allowed. 57% of Spaniards said that they agreed with the statement. The same percentage was cited in India where 57% of the people also backed this sentiment.

Singapore, which has been debating to regulate online gambling also saw strong opposition at home with 56%. Australia, a nation that is known for its gambling proclivity came in next with 53% support. Italy, another strictly regulated market, saw locals agree with the statement in 52% of the cases.

Interestingly, Poland was the least likely to agree with the statement with only 32% of the population saying that they backed a ban on online gambling. Asked if the rules and regulations on gambling were too strict, the 18 observed jurisdictions and nations stated that this was mostly not true – only 25% of people in Hong Kong agreed.

Only 14% of people agreed with the statement in the United States, the same number as in Canada, France, and Australia. The numbers were remarkably even when looked into on "strongly agree" and "tend to agree on basis." People from across all jurisdictions were mostly unanimous when it came to the prevalence of betting and gambling advertisements and its prevalence.

72% of Australians said that there was simply too much of it going around. The same was the case in the United Kingdom where 71% of the people said that there were indeed too many sports betting partnerships and sponsorships. This comes at an interesting moment as the country is in the process of overhauling its gambling laws and one of the hotly debated points is whether the Premier League and sports clubs should cut ties with gambling companies and partnerships.

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