Differences in online gambling expenditure between players from Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Great Britain, US and Canada: A largescale online player tracking study

The present study aimed to compare the expenditure of real-world online gamblers (N = 926,086) from six countries (Great Britain, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Canada [Ontario], and US) to identify potential impacts of specific regulatory aspects on the amount of money gambled by players. The dataset comprised 233,221 British players, 167,826 Dutch players, 89,456 German players, 55,229 Spanish players, 18,463 Canadian players, and 361,891 US players. Data were analyzed using the total amount of money bet, lost, and deposited. German players bet (median = €74) and lost (median = €15) the lowest amounts of money gambling. Moreover, the average bet per game (median = €0.17) was the lowest among German players. Canadian (mean = €11,165) and US players (mean = €6434) bet the highest amounts. The US and Canada were the two countries with the largest outliers with respect to amount bet. Analysis also showed that a small percentage of players were responsible for the majority of the revenue in each of the six jurisdictions. More specifically, in the US, the 20% highest spending players accounted for 95% of the amount of money bet. The respective percentages for Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands were 94%, 88%, 86%, 91%, and 79%. The present study's findings suggest that less restrictive regulation is associated with higher gambling expenditure, and that very strict regulation is associated with lower gambling expenditure.