The war unleashed by putin’s russia against Ukraine more than a month ago has affected not only the lives of Ukrainians, but also had a number of detrimental effects around the world. For instance, it provoked shrinking of the global economy and increased inflation, which primarily affected European countries.
The agriculture, energy and tourism sectors were the first to suffer, as well as to respond to government-imposed economic sanctions against russia.
The general slowdown in economic activity has not spared the legal gambling market due to the rapid change in the behaviour of gamblers who started saving on entertainment.
It is true that recently another study of the local gamblers’ behaviour, as commissioned by the UK, was carried out. It was conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Department of Trust (DoTrust), the provider of open banking solutions that owns the BetBudget program.
The study showed that 18% of regular gamblers may stop gambling, and another 32% plan to cut their expenses due to rising inflation in the country. Let us recall that the consumer price index in the UK increased over the last week of March to 6.2%.
This rise in prices significantly affected respondents’ consumption habits. For instance, 11% of them noted that they “struggled” to pay bills and cover expenses due to inflation. Another 43% said that the increase in prices significantly affected them, and they had to reduce expenditure on non-essential needs and hobbies.
38% of respondents were not really affected by the increase in the cost of living, and although they carefully monitor their expenses, they were not forced to significantly adjust their usual financial behaviour. And only 7% of gamblers said that the increase in prices had no effect on their habits and spending. At the same time, 35% noted that they plan to set clear budget limits for gambling.
This study proves once again that:
- gambling has long been perceived as entertainment or just a hobby, where money is spent similarly to any other habit (if sufficient financial resources), and they do not treat gambling as a source of quick wealth;
- those who gamble depend on a real capacity to spend their funds on entertainment and clearly define their spending priorities.
This attitude to gambling is a well-established global trend, since gambling is a classic of the entertainment industry.
Ukraine is no exception. Our country is not immune to similar processes. For instance, in wartime, the traffic of licensed online casinos dropped significantly, thus proving once again that gambling and gamblers are influenced by the development trends or problems faced by the country. War and economic challenges/crises have a direct impact on gamblers’ behaviour and gambling establishments. And this influence has common features in all civilized countries. There will be a trend of the economic development in general after the war. There will also be a trend of the active development of gambling both globally and in Ukraine.
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