I like to think that we, as humans, love to leave little things up to fate. Have you ever tried to toss a coin to decide what to do? Or have you ever tried putting your choices on a wheel and letting chance choose for you? It’s a small thing, if we think about it, but it does bring us something. I think gambling is the same way.

Gambling has been ingrained in our culture for so long, it’s the kind of thing you just sort of do without meaning to. Maybe your family treats card games and bingo as a bonding activity, placing coins down for the heck of it, like mine did. Maybe your mother or grandmother takes you with them to place bets in the nearest lottery every other week, or maybe your friends start a friendly competition on which basketball team will win during school intramurals. Without meaning to, we participate in betting and gambling.

Gambling is not exactly illegal in the Philippines. PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) oversees the industry and luxury hotels usually host fancy casinos for tourists to generate more income. But things happen–like technology or lockdowns–that change how we normally do things. It’s the most natural occurrence, isn’t it? Through advancing technologies, we now have online betting, gambling right at the tips of our fingers.

Now one might think, “Does anyone really play online betting?” Recently, a study was conducted by Capstone-Intel Corporation, a private research agency, regarding Online Betting which can be accessed on their official website. The long and short of it is the answer is yes.

Advertisements

Unsurprisingly, most of the people who participate in online betting are young people. That’s not to say, of course, that the older generation doesn’t participate in it. They do, but not as many youth are willing to try it these days. The sides that encompass the study presented are in the age brackets of 18-40, 41-60 and 61 and above. While we do often hear about “kids these days,” there is no better way to confirm the gap that age and generation have on us than studies like these.

E-casino is more popular among senior citizens, or those aged 61 and up, with a little bit of young people dabbling here and there. Perhaps the draw of playing in a casino–even if it’s a virtual one–is one simply too tempting to resist. We might not be manually pulling on the slot machines, but they probably don’t have as many variations in actual casinos as they do online anyway. Meanwhile, people aged 41-60 have mostly taken a liking to online bingo more. It’s simple, quick, and repetitive–what else can we really ask for?

As for why someone would even want to try online betting, reasons also vary. The age range of 18-60 has adopted a more practical mindset and is attracted to the prospect of easy money. They focus more on the prospect of high prizes than anything else. Who wouldn’t be? Like everything online, it’s considerably hassle-free, and the payoff may be far more than we expect if someone has a stroke of luck on their side. If we see it this way, there really isn’t anything wrong with participating in online betting–not if the stakes are low but the prizes are high. As they say, no pain, no gain or maybe it’s to go big or go home.

Those aged 61 and above prefer to participate in online betting simply to try their luck, which is always the case in gambling. The most attractive factor for them was stated to be the low betting cost. Then for them, online betting can be a low-stakes game against chance and luck, because while they can lose, it isn’t as devastating. It’s there and it is accessible to them, as simple as it sounds. Perhaps it’s because they were far more accustomed to the more traditional form of gambling, the more intimidating kind. Their aim is a lot lower, their expectations are a lot more modified, and they are not as driven as the younger age group.

While the youth and middle-aged are more particular about online betting, the older ones aren’t so keen on the idea. To no one’s surprise, they are more inclined to play the more traditional gambling games such as lotto, sabong, actual casino, and others. Perhaps it is true that we love what we have grown up with more than the new-fangled ones, no matter how convenient and easy they are. This rings true for a lot of us, I’m sure, as a person who still plays the physical UNO card game rather than the mobile one.

Suffice to say, there are a lot of differences between the youth and the older generation particularly when it comes to online betting and anything online-related. As the more experienced in technology and the internet, it’s not a wonder that they could adapt more to the new changes that sweep the industry. They explore, expand their reaches and try different things–whereas the older generation is more rooted in their ways. Even so, it’s just as much of a testament to Filipino gambling culture now as it was then. Perhaps in the far off future, someone will grow up used to playing online BINGO as a family pastime, and betting on online lotto rather than actually going to the nearest mall every Friday to shade some numbers among a row of people.