Swedish Study on Online Poker Playing Releases Results

During the year of 2006, the Swedish National Institute of Public Health conducted a survey of 16,500 adults. The study was done with three objectives in mind. They felt the need to identify exactly what the size of the online poker market in Sweden, to see and create a profile of online poker playing and to determine what their level of addiction is, if any, and to establish if there was any effect in regards to Svenska Spel's poker site which was launched back in March of 2006.

The Swedish National Institute of Public health has published the results from that yearlong study and has found that 27% of their online poker players have actual gambling problems.

These results showed that online poker playing in Sweden remained pretty stable through 2006 and only 1.9% of the study participants had played within the prior month.

They have also identified that the average age of an online poker player in Sweden is 25 years old. This is not shocking, as Sweden is known for being a highly conservative country.

The institute is already working on another study which should begin and run throughout 2008 in hopes that they can now determine what really determines if someone is a problem gambler or not.