43% of Maltese gamble weekly, government report finds

43.1% of respondents within a recently published government survey reportedly gamble weekly or almost every week, according to the General Population Survey on Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use in Malta in 2023.

This report, published on Friday provided an overview of substance use among Maltese residents aged 18 to 65. Aside from looking into trends on smoking, vaping, alcohol consumption, and substance use, it also took a snapshot on gambling trends within the Maltese islands. This 2023 study was the third time this survey was carried out – the first time was in 2001, followed by its sequel a decade ago in 2013.

When looking into the frequency of gambling among the near 3,500 respondents, researchers found that 43.1% gamble weekly or almost every week. This marked a 9.2% increase since 2013 for this gambling frequency, then reported at 33.9%, though it is still significantly less than the reported 55.3% playing money this often in 2001.

This study found that Maltese residents are most likely to either gamble around every week or less frequently than once a month (42.6%). A significantly smaller chunk of 14.3% of participants said they gamble once a month on average. These figures indicate long-term improvement to combat societal gambling tendencies since the turn of the millennium; in 2001, over half gambled weekly, around one in five (18.1%) once a month, and a quarter (26.5%) gambled less than once a month.

Since 2013, significantly more people are gambling on a weekly basis, while fewer people are gambling on a monthly basis or less.

Gambling participation was highest among 55-59-year-olds, with a preference towards lottery games and casinos. Younger adults (18-24) recorded the highest rates for sports betting (21.6%), internet gambling (13.6%), and card games (8.7%).

Males were found to be more likely to gamble than females (37.7% of the male population versus 31.0% of the female population). The proportion of people spending over €50 in gambling activities has remained low, “suggesting that most people engage in lower-stakes gambling activities.”