|
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Highlights
Introduction
Overall Gambling Participation
The Demographics of Northeastern Gamblers
Charitable Gambling/Lottery Sales
History of Gambling Participation
- Indian Casinos
- Non-Indian Casinos
- Minnesota State Lottery
- Other Lottery
- Cards
- Dice
- Dog Racing
- Social Bets
- Horse Racing
- Pulltabs
- Sports Events
- Bingo
Methodology
HIGHLIGHTS
- Gambling activity in Northeastern Minnesota is very similar to that
of the rest of the state.
- The overall participation rate in Northeastern Minnesota has increased
slightly from 84 percent in 1993 to 88 percent in 1997.
- Gambling in Northeastern Minnesota is consistent with the state's
overall gambling participation rate of 89 percent (in 1996 and 1997).
- Residents of Northeastern Minnesota and those of the rest of the
state are similar in their gambling habits(both groups have wagered
on an average of four gambling activities during their life and two
activities in the past year.
- Bingo has a higher lifetime participation rate in Northeastern Minnesota
than for the state overall, but horse and dog racing are far less
popular with Northeasterners.
- Residents of Northeastern Minnesota are slightly more likely to
visit Indian casinos than are other Minnesotans.
- Unlike the rest of the state, Northeastern Minnesota does not show
a large decline in lifetime gambling among those 65 and older.
INTRODUCTION
The seven counties of Koochiching, St. Louis, Lake, Cook, Itasca, Carlton
and Pine represent what will be referred to as Northeastern Minnesota.
Gambling opportunities throughout the territory are many. The region
is home to five of the state's 16 Indian-owned casinos, 390 licensed
charitable gambling locations and 348 Minnesota State Lottery retailers.
In addition, residents may indulge in social wagering at informal card
games, take part in office Super Bowl pools or even leave the region
to attend a horse race or buy a Wisconsin lottery ticket.
But how does the gambling activity in this area compare to the rest
of the state? Are Northeasterners more likely to gamble than other Minnesotans?
Do they prefer the same activities?
These and other questions were addressed in a survey designed by the
Minnesota State Lottery with the assistance of the Survey Research Center
at St. Cloud State University. The Survey Research Center designed the
sample and conducted the interviews. Lottery staff completed the data
analysis and report writing.
About 2,400 interviews were conducted statewide; 391 responses came
from Northeastern Minnesota. Sixty-seven percent of the households contacted
completed the survey.[1] Respondents were asked if they had participated
in any of 13 different forms of gambling and whether they made wagers
on each of those activities during the past year.
The design, methodology and many of the survey's questions were replicated
from phone interviews conducted in the early summers of 1993, 1995 and
1996. This report uses data from these earlier projects to see how gambling
behavior in Northeastern Minnesota adults has changed in recent years.
It also compares activity in Northeastern Minnesota with state participation
rates.
OVERALL GAMBLING PARTICIPATION
Eighty-eight percent of Northeastern Minnesota adults report having
gambled sometime during their lives(that's about 211,000 of the 240,000
adults living in the region. The overall participation rate has increased
slightly from 84 percent in 1993 but is currently consistent with the
state's overall gambling participation rate of 89 percent found both
in 1996 and in 1997[2]. Gambling during the past year by Northeastern
Minnesotans is identical to the state's participation rate of 72 percent
of adults.
The number of gambling activities played by Northeastern adults is
similar to the state's overall activity. The average adult in both populations
has bet on four of 13 specific gambling activities in his or her lifetime.
The average Minnesota adult in both populations (Northeastern Minnesota
and the entire state) has participated in two of the 13 gambling categories
during the last year.
The Minnesota State Lottery and pulltabs are the most popular forms
of gambling in Northeastern Minnesota and the state as a whole. Bingo
has a higher lifetime participation rate in Northeastern Minnesota than
in the state overall and horse and dog racing are far less popular with
Northeasterners (probably because of distance to the nearest horse or
dog tracks).
The Minnesota State Lottery remains the most popular form of gambling.
Nearly half of the adults in Northeastern Minnesota and throughout the
state have played the Lottery during the last year. Indian casinos show
a slightly higher participation rate (33 percent) by Northeasterners
in comparison with the state's participation rate of 29 percent.
THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF NORTHEASTERN GAMBLERS
There is very little difference in gambling participation rates between
Northeastern Minnesota and the state overall for those under 55. Gambling
appears to be most popular for those under 35. However, Northeastern
Minnesota does not show a large decline in gambling participation for
those 65 and older, unlike the state's population.
Gambling behavior within the past year by Northeasterners under the
age of 45 is very similar to the state's participation rates. However,
the state shows a considerable decline in participation for those 65
and older. Northeastern Minnesota shows its decline earlier, in the
55-64 age group, but then appears to level off. Seniors living in Northeastern
Minnesota are more likely to have gambled recently than seniors living
throughout the state.
Education seems to have very little influence on overall gambling participation
rates in Northeastern Minnesota or throughout the state. All of the
categories hover around the state's lifetime gambling participation
rate of 89 percent.
Lifetime gambling preferences for Northeastern males are predominately
similar to those of males throughout the State. Northeastern males are
less likely to have bet on a horse race or made a social bet during
their lifetime than the State male populace as a whole.
Bingo, more popular with females than males, is even more popular for
Northeastern females than for females throughout the state. Fifty-six
percent of Northeastern adult females have played bingo, whereas state
bingo participation overall by adult females is 46 percent. Horse and
dog racing are less common gambling activities for females in the Northeast.
Lifetime participation for other forms of gambling closely reflect the
state's overall participation rates.
CHARITABLE GAMBLING/LOTTERY SALES
In addition to a state-run Lottery, Minnesota also licenses nonprofit
organizations, giving them the right to sell pulltabs and tipboards,
and run bingo games, raffles and paddlewheels. The Gambling Control
Board oversees these lawful gambling activities, which raise money for
various charities throughout the state. Charitable gambling sales reached
over $1.3 billion in fiscal year 1997, three and a half times higher
than the state's Lottery sales of $370 million. Pulltabs remain the
most popular of the five types of charitable gambling activities, grossing
over $1.2 billion in FY97.
Northeastern Minnesota accounted for approximately 10 percent ($135
million) of state charitable gambling sales and 9 percent ($30 million)
of Lottery sales.
St. Louis County had by far the largest sales in the region, contributing
more than $82 million in charitable gambling activities and $18 million
in Lottery purchases.
This is not too surprising, because St. Louis County is home to 217
of the 390 charitable gambling establishments and 232 of the 385 Lottery
retailers in Northeastern Minnesota.
Although charitable gambling and Lottery sales differ greatly in volume
from each other and from county to county, there is similarity in the
proportion of total regional sales contributed by each of the Northeastern
counties. County populations, as a percentage of the region, are also
consistent with charitable gambling and Lottery sales.
The next three charts depict gambling participation of Northeasterners
from 1993 through 1997. They show current and lifetime participation
rates for 12 of the 13 specific gambling activities discussed in this
report. [3]
HISTORY OF GAMBLING PARTICIPATION
METHODOLOGY
During June and July 1997, the Minnesota State Lottery contracted with
the St. Cloud State University Survey for a telephone survey of Minnesota
adults. The SCSU Survey is an ongoing survey research arm of the Social
Science Research Institute in the College of Social Sciences at St.
Cloud State University. The questionnaire was designed by the Minnesota
State Lottery and modified in consultation with the SCSU Survey directors.
The survey director is Dr. Steve Frank, SCSU Professor of Political
Science. Dr. Frank is a member of the Midwest Association for Public
Opinion Research and the American Association for Public Opinion Research
and subscribes to the code of ethics of the AAPOR. Dan Olson served
as the interviewer supervisor. About 20 trained, supervised and paid
SCSU students conducted the actual interviews using a computer-assisted
telephone interviewing (CATI) system. They were monitored by Olson and
Frank. All calls were made from the SCSU Survey Research Laboratory.
Callers were identified as being from St. Cloud State University. The
survey was administered between June 8 and July 15. The instrument was
pre-tested by SCSU Survey prior to the start of the phone calling.
The target population was surveyed using a stratified random sample
scheme. According to this scheme, the state was divided into six geographic
areas corresponding to Lottery sales regions and a goal was set to obtain
400 completed responses within each region. Several steps were taken
to ensure that the telephone samples of each region's adults 18 or older
was representative of each area's larger population. Households were
contacted using random digit dialing, a technique that can reach changed,
new and unlisted phone numbers (samples from phone books may skip 30
percent or more of area households). The random digit sample for each
region was prepared by Survey Sampling, Inc., of Fairfield, Connecticut.
Within each household the particular respondent was determined in a
statistically unbiased fashion using the Hagen-Collier method[4]. This
method seeks to eliminate statistical bias by alternating between men
and women and older and younger respondents. Few substitutions were
allowed. Hard-to-reach respondents were called up to seven times over
different days and times, and appointments were made as necessary to
interview the designated respondent at his or her convenience. Calls
were made primarily after 4:30 p.m. and on weekends, but calls were
also made during weekdays in order to reach hard-to-get respondents.
Each regional sample consisted of about 400 completed interviews for
an estimated sample error for each area of (+/-) 5 percent at the 95
percent level of confidence. This means that if one were to have drawn
20 samples of each region and administered the same instrument, it would
be expected that the overall findings would be greater or less than
5 percent only one time in 20. The sample error for all regions combined
and weighted for statewide analysis is approximately (+/-) 2 percent.
As with all sample surveys, however, there are other possible sources
of error for which precise estimates cannot be calculated. For sub-samples
such as age and gender, the sample error may be larger.
The completion rate of the survey is 67 percent, which is at least
10 percentage points above the average for professional marketing firms
and reverses a slight decline over the past three years. Completion
rate means that once an eligible household was reached, about two-thirds
of the respondents agreed to participate in the survey. With a few exceptions,
partial surveys were not counted as complete. The upward tick is due
to better training, better use of the CATI system and more attempts
to convert some initial refusals. A total of 2,396 interviews were completed.
The demographics of each sample appear to match census and other known
characteristics of each region very well. As is characteristic of telephone
surveys, women were slightly over-sampled; results are weighted to compensate
for this.
Analysis of the data was completed by the Minnesota State Lottery research
department using the SPSS statistical analysis computer package. Before
analysis, each response was assigned a statistical weight based on 1995
population estimates from the State Demographer's office to compensate
for the different population sizes of each region and the oversampling
of women[5]. Information in this report was compiled by Lottery Research
Analyst Colette Hanson under the supervision of Don Feeney, Research
and Planning Director for the Lottery. Feeney holds a Master of Science
degree in statistics and is a member of the American Association for
Public Opinion Research, the American Statistical Association and its
section on Survey Research Methods.
[1] With a sample of this size, the estimated sample error statewide
is approximately plus or minus 2 percent at the 95 percent level of
confidence; if one were to draw repeated samples of the same size and
administer the same survey, the findings would differ by more than 2
percent only one time in 20. Sample errors for substate regions and
demographic or other subgroups are, of course, larger.
[2] See Gambling in Minnesota, Report 1: Gambling Participation Rates
of Minnesota Adults: 1997 for state detail.
[3] The riverboats/cruises category was first included in the 1997
survey and as such has insufficient history for charting.[4] For further
information on the Hagen-Collier method and other methods of respondent
selection, see Lavrakas, Paul J. Telephone Survey Methods: Sampling,
Selection, and Supervision, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA, 1987.
[5] For a detailed discussion of stratified random sampling
and weighting see Cochran, William G., Sampling Techniques, John Wiley
& Sons, New York, 1977.
|
