A new study released by TransUnion demonstrated a drastic shift in betting behavior among different generations in the final quarter of 2024. Although the entire pot-hunting activity inched up a bit with 26% of the customers involved, which is 24% in 2023, the push was mainly due to the Baby Boomers and Gen X, who showed a decline in betting interest, as Millennials went with a decrease in engagement. This demographic switch now challenges the old ideas of which demographic was betting and now even points out the major evolvement in the gambling industry.
According to the document, Baby Boomers were betting 7% more this year compared to the previous year, and also Gen X played 4% better. In contrast, the Millennial crowd was not engaged with the event, as they got 5% less than the previous year. Gen Z gamblers maintained rather stable levels of participation. Through the above-mentioned outcomes, it seems clear that increased salaries and assets are the primary definition of player betting than the age gap alone. This shift marks the significance of the need for the user to change their marketing strategy and instead target the age group of people with disposable income who, however, belong to different age groups.
Of the many wonderful things discovered in the report, one of the most significant is that the high-quality bettors include those who spend at least $500 per month on betting, and they reported an increase in their incomes – 41% of them registered an increase in their income. In the fourth quarter of 2024, 54% of the highest-income bettors were characterized by either good or excellent credit, as well as medium or high income, an increase from 50% in 2023. Besides, the number of high-income bettors with the worst financial performance switches from year to year from 7% to 4%, respectively. These findings suggest a stronger financial profile of those people who bet than the non-betting group.
The altering trends in demography and financial aspects of bettors are concurrent with the growing strictness of government oversight over the gambling business. The newly conducted studies that showed the risks to individual players’ personal finances have prompted the regulatory bodies to be extra cautious about the matter and attracted consumer protection units’ close attention to this issue. Engaging in a group action to address the problem, the gambling industry leaders have joined the Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA) in which the main course of action is to come up with union-wide “Responsible Gaming” norms and, at the same time, fund the research and teaching related issues. The people behind the industry, together with the game administrators, are in the course of the experiment that these new tools are developed to estimate players’ financial adequacy and to make sure proper and secure gaming only will be possible.
