Maharashtra women love poker more, say data

According to data procured from one ofIndia's largest poker sites, the state tops list of maximum women playing online poker at 12 per cent

Gender has little to do with games or sports, and even little to do with wins or losses. But, after a lukewarm response to the game of poker over the years, Indian women seem to have woken up to the online frenzy as a new report suggests that the number of female players online has more than doubled in the last five years.

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According to the recent data provided by Adda52, one ofIndia's largest online poker portals,Maharashtratops the charts for the maximum participation of women players (12 per cent) from an Indian state. It is closely followed byDelhi(11 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (10 per cent), Tamil Nadu (9 per cent) and Karnataka (8 per cent).

Gradual increase
Apparently, when Adda52 was launched in 2012, few women played poker online. As per data revealed by them, only 3.48 per cent women played the game in 2012. The following year, the figure increased marginally to 3.85 per cent. In 2014, 4.69 per cent players joining the site were women. Between 2015 and 2016, the percentage of new women players joining the site doubled to 9.53 per cent and 9.73 per cent respectively.

As per the website, 80 per cent women online poker players hail from the northern and western parts of the country, with southIndiabarely adding to the number. But, the report states that in 2017, nearly 60 per cent of the total number of women joining the site was from south or northIndia.

The eastern and north-eastern belt of the country joined the frenzy much later. Between 2016 and 2017, the participation from eastIndiajumped from 8 per cent to 9.5 per cent. During the same time, participation of women players increased from 2.5 per cent to 4 per cent from north-eastern states.

More expenditure
The data procured also points at a rise in the amount of disposable income among women. There was a jump of 36 per cent in expenditure per female player in 2015, as against the expenditure during the same period the previous year. Women spent 41 per cent more in 2016, as compared to 2015, the report states.