IGT's DoubleDown Casino releases world's first social casino index

The U.S. Social Casino Index is based on more than six million people who play DoubleDown Casino games on Facebook online or on a mobile device every month. The Index reveals that social casino players in the U.S. are mostly women between the ages of 45 and 55 and women played 30 percent more virtual chips than men per social gaming session. Women were willing to take a chance with up to 10 million virtual chips per session while men did not venture past 7.6 million.

"As the world's largest virtual social casino, we are always seeking to better understand our players and their preferences," said John Clelland, Vice President of Global Marketing at IGT Interactive Group. "The Social Casino Index gives the gaming industry a truly detailed look at social casino player preferences for the first time. It's also fascinating to look into the similarities and differences in our players from coast to coast."

The index highlights are:

-Players on the West Coast were luckier in the first half of the year winning more than 1.7 billion virtual chips in jackpots while those on the East Coast won 790 million virtual chips.

-The top five states with players most willing to take their chances were North Dakota, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Wyoming. Those states had the highest concentration of players across the U.S.

-Hawaii wins the title of Most Mobile State as players there were up to 20 percent more likely to play on a mobile device than average. Maine players were almost 25 percent less likely to play on a mobile device.

-Women in Nevada were on a winning streak as more than 60 percent of players from the state were female. Men in West Virginia showed the highest percentage per state of male players, with more than 40 percent enjoying DoubleDown Casino games.

“We had this belief that men would make the highest bets,” Clelland said. But, as it turns out, women who play DoubleDown’s games bet 30 percent more, on average. John Clelland, global marketing VP at DoubleDown’s parent company, IGT.

It’s generally accepted that the social casino audience skews female, a consensus backed up by the index, which reported most of its audience to be “women between the ages of 45 and 55.” But free-to-play game spending, as a whole, skews heavily male. Earlier this year, a Frank N. Magid Associates study commissioned by payments platform PlaySpan found that men spend nearly three times more than women on virtual goods.

Clelland also noted that game play was heavily concentrated in states that offered either legalized gambling or where Native American casinos were accessible, which he chalked up to familiarity with the games available. IGT’s main business is the creation and distribution of old-fashioned slot machines, which is a common counterpart to many of the larger social casino game studios.

The full U.S. Social Casino Index can be found at http://doubledowninteractive.com/press.