Women Populating the Online Poker World

If you had bet that ladies across the world would be playing online poker in mass numbers back the late 1990’s when Planet Poker opened as the first online poker site to accept real money wagers, even the die-hard poker players would have given you pretty long odds. In 2009; however, over one-third of the online poker players that played for real money were women, and the number of women playing poker just keeps getting larger.

While online poker has been partially responsible for the remarkable increase of poker players overall, it has been possibly the most influential on female players.  This is in part due to the ability of online sites to offer a vast range of stakes, accessibility, as well as the anonymity that online poker allows.  Many female players feel more comfortable playing at home. The latest world-wide numbers from 2009 may surprise you. Well over three million, (representing just over 33 percent) of the poker playing population are women who play online poker at least once a month for real money stakes.

So approximately how many women geographically are playing online poker?

Womens Poker in the USA: The U.S. has the largest number of women online poker players with roughly 1.5 million women enjoying the benefits of online poker. This number represents approximatley one percent of the American adult population. There is suspect that the percentage of women players from the United States was larger at one time but road blocks such as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) created deposit and legal barriers that prevent many players from participating in online poker as much as they could.

Women's Poker in Canada: Canadian women continue to match the U..S. female demographic with women online cash poker players representing approximately one percent of the total adult population in Canada. Canadians have more payment options available than US players which makes them one of the fastest growing poker playing countries.

Women's Poker in Germany: Despite the fact that Germany continues its effort to ban online gambling including poker, poker playing females represent just less than one percent of Germanys’ 35 million citizens.

Womens Poker in the UK: The UK’s poker friendly position keeps poker legal and regulated making it safe for the estimated quarter million women who play online. With many online poker sites located in the UK online poker is also not taxed.

Women's Poker in France: Even in the face of France’s actions against online poker, allowing only licensed sites to provide services to its citizens, over 150,000 women play poker for money online. The number marks just over .5% of Frances’ total adult population.

Womens Poker in Italy: Italy, much like France, allows only licensed sites to provide services. That does not stop one percent (260,000) women from playing on the virtual felt in Italy at least once a month.

Women's Poker in Sweden: The percentage of Swedish women who play poker is second only to Austrian women. Swedish female poker players represent almost three percent of the total adult Swedish population.  In a country of just over 9 million, this amount to well over 100,000 women playing online poker. Sweden only allows players to play on “state sponsored sites” but there are over 40 sites that offer gameplay in Swedish and also in English language.

Women's Poker in Spain: As of 2009, Spanish women who play online poker represented less than .5% of the total Spanish population. However, for the past several years, the government of Spain has been working on new legislation that will make internet poker rooms and other forms of online gambling fully legal and regulated. No doubt this will bring an increase in the number of women playing online poker.

Women's Poker in Australia: The ladies of Australia have hit the internet with a vengeance. Almost two percent of Australia’s women play online poker. As of 2009 statistics show that almost 200,000 Australian women play online but that number has grown significantly in the past year. Australians are not offered Australian online poker rooms. Instead, they have to go use online poker sites that are hosted in other countries.

Women's Poker in Poland: Polish women playing poker represent only .8 percent of the total adult population. As of right now it is illegal to gamble online in Poland but the Polish government has expressed an interest in licensing and regulating internet gambling but still has quite a way to go before that comes to fruition.
 

Women's Poker in Austria: With what are probably the most liberal gaming laws in the world Austria has the largest percentage of the total adult population of women playing online poker. While only 100,000 women sounds like a small number as compared more populated countries, it represents about three percent of the total female population in the country.

Women's Poker in Belgium: The percentage of Belgian women playing online poker shares the bottom with Holland both with less than .5% of the total adult population playing online poker for money. In Belgium, online poker licenses are expected to be awarded to land-based casino operators by the end of this year.

Women's Poker in Finland: Despite the attempts of the Finnish government to create road blocks for players to play at non-Finnish online gambling portals the number of women who play for money is surprisingly high. Women playing online poker represent about 2.5% of the total adult population. Most likely this is due to the lack of land based poker rooms.

Womens Poker in Switzerland: Approximately .5 percent of Switzerland’s adult population plays online poker. Switzerland has laws that make online poker illegal but the laws are not strictly enforced.

Women's Poker in Norway: In 2009, Norwegian women playing poker represented about two percent of the total population. However, this year, Norway followed in the steps of the US and prohibited online payment processors and credit card companies from allowing online gaming transactions; therefore it is suspected that the number has dropped considerably since 2009 statistics. Where most other countries are experiencing an increase in the number of women playing online poker each year, Norway may be the only exception.

As these numbers demonstrate, the online poker industry continues to grow because of the number of women entering the field through the 545 online poker portals currently available. Women are the fastest growing demographic of poker players online. Research shows that the number of women playing real money poker online will further increase dramatically over the next few years.

Online poker rooms are starting to market their games specifically to the female demographic, and upping their stakes, and websites like Woman Poker Player magazine have been striving to increase the profile of women who play poker for a number of years.

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