Casino affiliate website AskGamblers recently revealed that the majority of sports bettors are more inclined to place a bet on a hunch rather than using data. Of 1,000 regular UK sports bettors surveyed, 54% said that they relied on intuition.

On the latest episode of iGaming Daily, SBC News’ Senior Journalist, Viktor Kayed, sat down with James Ross, SBC’s Multimedia Editor, to delve deeper into the study.

Reacting to the results, James said: “I know my friends are quite in-depth when we do bet but I know quite a large majority of people who just go on gut instinct and place a bet from what they’ve watched in the past and use an educated guess.

“A large majority of people who do bet tend to just have weekend flutters. Even when you look at the Grand National, for instance, that gets a large amount of bets each time it’s on but you can’t say those people are reoccurring bettors, they’re not. They’re there for the thrill and to embrace the occasion, which for horse racing and betting it goes hand-in-hand.”

The study also found that women who bet are more likely (57%) to bet using gut instinct, compared to their male counterparts (52%).

These stats surprised James, who has found in his own life that the women he knows who bet are more likely to do their research first, however, Viktor was less shocked by the stats as he believes that men tend to be more “invested in sport”.

“I think that women betting more on gut instincts sounds more logical to me,” he explained.

“I feel that the majority of fans who tend to follow closely some of the most popular sports for betting, [such as] basketball and football, are men. My explanation is that when you religiously watch a sport you’re more likely to have a deeper understanding of team performances, player ratings et cetera. 

“Whereas if you tune in randomly you would be more inclined to place a bet based on feedback you’ve gotten recently. For example, someone has given you advice on who to bet on, or you just like what you’re seeing from the team or player at that exact moment.”

Despite the majority of bettors relying on gut instinct, 70% of those surveyed said that they would advise newcomers to sports betting to conduct thorough research before going through with a bet, something the duo agreed is good advice.

James said: “I think newcomers should probably take that advice. I’ve said it many times, not just in sports betting but also when I was writing [about slots] that it’s quite a complex thing to get your head around in terms of how a slot works and what you need to look out for while doing your research.

“[Research] does well to enhance the experience and enjoyability of placing a bet and that’s what we should always remember first and foremost. Placing a bet should be entertaining, it should be fun and it should be engaging.”