Everest Poker Survey

A second annual Everest Poker survey, conducted with JupiterResearch, has found that poker is “more popular than ever before” as far as younger players are concerned. The survey looked at the characteristics of almost three thousand poker players in sixteen countries, covering both Europe and Asia.

The biggest finding was that the number of players between 18 and 24 years has grown substantially. In Germany, 17% of players belonged to this age range in 2007, but this figure swelled for 41% for the latest survey. In Sweden, the figure has increased fro 18% to 25%. Although Hungary and Poland participated in the survey for the first time this year, they had the largest percentages of younger players with 61% and 58% respectively. Spain showed no change in the number of players aged 18 to 24 (28%) but the percentage of players aged 25 to 34 has increased to 42%.

Female poker players are also swelling in number. In Spain, the number of female players has increased from 16% in 2007 to 44%. Italy’s population of female players has hit 34% from a previous figure of 18% and in Germany the figure is 35% from 32%. More women play in Nordic countries than anywhere else (Norway has 46% female players, with Finland and Sweden having 38% and 37%) and eastern European countries have the least, with Hungary having 28% female players and Poland 27%.

The motivation of online poker players doesn’t seem to differ from nation to nation, and both fun and money are the things that attract people to the game. Some 68% of players surveyed in European nations said that they play primarily for fun, although of course this doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy winning cash as well. In Austria and Hungary, 44% and 41% of respondents said that they like to play to improve their technique.