A recent study published on https://www.sevenjackpots.com/ and dedicated to Goa casinos and their influence on Indian gambling culture has revealed that the small coastal state generates more than double the online casino traffic it should if we look at the size of its population.
Goa is inhabited by 1.5 million people, which is roughly equal to 0.1 percent of India's population. Yet, the internal primary data on user visits for a six-month period analysed by the SevenJackpots research team suggests that 0.23 percent of the online casino traffic in Bharat originates from Goa.
This practically suggests that the average resident of Goa gambles online more than two times more than the average Indian citizen. And Goa is one of the very few places in the country where there are actual real-world casinos with licences and everything!
“The fact that [Goa] accounts for more online casino players than all of the North-Eastern states of Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh – combined – is simply impressive,” the authors of the study exclaim.
Perhaps not everyone can afford going to casinos in five-star hotels and luxurious ships, and perhaps the barriers to the entry of locals have also played a part in fueling the trend, making Goans look for alternative and more accessible forms of casino entertainment elsewhere, but there must be other factors behind the small state’s high presence in online casinos as well.
Maybe Goans Just Gamble Too Much Anywhere They Go?
The theory that the average Goan resident is some Mr Gamble-a-Lot is indeed one possible explanation why Goans have such a high online gambling exposure and is even backed up by some empirical data.
The SevenJackpots paper, for example, points to a psychological survey conducted in Goa which has established that half of Goan men have gambled at least once in their life and that 45 percent identify as gamblers.
At the same time, 40 percent of those who identify as gamblers admit to playing illegal Satta Matka.
On this background, Goa’s Director General of Police (DGP) reporting a 10-fold rise in booked cases of public gambling in February this year compared to the same month of 2022 seems to add substance to the idea that it’s not just on the internet, Goans literally gamble everywhere they go.
Or residents of Goa, to be more precise: apparently the pandemic has not only pushed people to go online, but has driven large flocks of digital nomads to Goa, lured by dreams of a permanent “workation” among beaches, alcohol and parties, or trying to fix their mental health.
These millennials and Gen Zs form the perfect demographic to boost Goa’s online casino presence, because they have the disposable income to do it and are rather short on deep social connections in the new place, which makes them look for more interaction online.
Speaking of disposable income, Goa has the highest GDP per Capita in India which makes it easier for people to spend money on leisure and entertainment. Notably, a great deal of Goa’s high level of economic development is based on gambling and gambling tourism.
