John Gray, Ph.D. penned the best selling book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus back in 1982. The self-help book, aimed at couples wanting to improve their relationships, went on to sell more than 15 million copies; that’s a lot of potentially happy couples.
Dr. Gray stated the most common relationship problems boil down to the fundamental psychological differences between men and women. He even used the eponymous metaphor that we’re from entirely different planets completely. It feels that was sometimes, doesn’t it? Those psychological differences could be why women are wired to be better gamblers than their male counterparts.
An increasing number of women are betting on sports. Gone are the dark days when betting shops were dark, dingy, smoke-filled places. The industry is now much more welcoming. Sports betting is much more accessible too thanks to the internet. Women (and men, of course) can place bets online at Betonline sportsbook and a whole host of other online sports betting sites.
Study Shows Women ARE Better at Sports Betting Than Men
An online gambling operator performed a study into gambling habits of its male and female customers last year. Its findings took many gambling industry personnel by surprise.
Bets placed by men suffered an average loss of 4.6%. Conversely, female bettors saw an average return on investment of 19.79%. That is a huge difference, but what caused it? We take you back to Dr. Gray’s book from earlier. Differences in psychology, culture, and strategy are the main forces in play.
It isn’t considered “the norm”, even today, for women to make an emotional connection with professional sports teams. Football, for example, has an approximate 65/35 split of its fanbase with males dominating. That’s not to say there aren’t female football fanatics – here’s looking at you Delia Smith – but the most popular sports punters gamble on have predominately male fans, such as sports betting iowa. Women don’t always have that visceral connection with a team.
This leads to men frequently betting with their hearts and not their heads, which is recipe for disaster. Ask your partner or friend how much money they’ve made from betting on their favourite team and I’d be willing to bet you they are in a hole from those wagers.
People hate betting against their own team even if victory is as likely as a snowflake surviving at the gates of hell. It’s also frowned upon to wager against your own team, so fans don’t do it even if that’s the smart thing to do.
Genetic and Psychological Differences Play a Major Role
One thing that men have in abundance that us women do not is that crazy little hormone we call testosterone. Increased levels of testosterone are linked to being aggressive and impulsive, two attributes not particularly suited to making profitable sports bets.
Making bets on a whim, or as a knee-jerk reaction is commonplace among males. Women, on the other hand, tend to be more calculated and take many more factors into account. They don’t have the little devil on their shoulder telling them they must make this bet to show the world how awesome they are at betting on sports!
Then there’s the fact men tend to throw caution to the wind and take more risks in their bet choices. They prefer big wins, which only happen from riskier wagers that are less likely to win.
Female punters tend to be more risk-averse, are happier to book a small win, often taking advantage of the cash-out feature offered by most online betting firms these days. Men prefer to let their bets ride and allow Lady Luck to take care of the result. Lady Luck can be a cruel mistress at the best of times as any gambler knows all too well.
Conclusion
Articles such as this one have to use sweeping statements and group people together. There are, of course, some extremely talented sports betters from both sexes, just as there are some truly terrible ones; there are probably more of the latter in all honesty!
It does make you wonder how many successful bets men and women could enjoy if they put their heads together before placing a wager. Combining the natural strengths of the sexes’ make-up and negating the natural weaknesses should, in theory, have bookmakers quaking in their boots.
