Around 487,000 people in the Netherlands (5.3 percent of the Dutch population) participated in real-money Internet gaming in 2004. On average, Dutch gamers spend 35 euro per month on this type of gaming. Yearly spending in the Dutch I-gaming market is estimated to be 144 million euro.
Around 3.4 million Dutch residents (37 percent of the country's population) participated in SMS or telephone gaming during the same.
Commissioned by the Netherlands Gaming Control Board, Motivaction International conducts an annual study in which it analyzes the Dutch Internet gaming and SMS/telephone gaming markets. The primary goal of the analysis in 2004 is to monitor the nature and scope of the markets and gauge the extent of problematic behavior.
In total, 7,670 Dutch Internet users between the ages 18 and 55 years old were interviewed using an Internet-based questionnaire.
In comparison with the 2003 study, the number of participants in paid e-gaming has risen significantly. In 2003, 3.8 percent of the population stated that they participated in paid interactive Internet gaming; that amounts to around 266,000 Dutch citizens.
Participation in paid e-gaming in 2004 is highest among young men with low incomes.
This profile is similar to that of participants in other, more traditional high-risk games of chance. Although the number of participants in paid e-gaming has risen significantly, it is still a small group compared to more traditional high-risk games of chance.
The 2004 study found that real-money Internet games are played infrequently on a weekly or monthly basis. Playing time usually doesn't exceed a half hour. It also shows that long-term participation in paid e-gaming is not common. Turnover in participants is high and there are relatively few long-term e-gamers.
This year's study serves as a second measurement of problematic behavior associated with paid interactive gaming activities via the Internet. It found that 25 percent of participants are at risk of problematic behavior, and 4 percent of participants showed actual problematic behavior.
Mobile Gaming
The 2004 study found that SMS/telephone games are mostly played by women with a low income and little education. Most participants (53 percent) started playing SMS or telephone games in the past two months. Thirty percent of them have been playing these games for two years or longer. The telephone gamers spend about 36 million euros on telephone gaming per year.
Seventy-six percent of the participants in SMS or telephone gaming knew beforehand what the games would cost them. Only 6 percent of the participants weren't aware of the costs.
There is little problematic behavior among participants in SMS or telephone gaming. Seventeen percent could be at risk of problematic behavior. Only 3 percent of the participants could be characterized as showing actual problematic behavior.
These characterizations should be viewed in the light that a problematic player on average would not spend more than 50 euro a year on these kinds of games.