TABLE OF CONTENTS
Highlights
Introduction
Overall Gambling Participation
The Demographics of Southwestern 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
The overall gambling participation rate in Southwestern Minnesota
of 88 percent in 1997 is consistent with the state's overall gambling
participation rate of 89 percent.
Residents of Southwestern Minnesota and those of the rest of the
state resemble each other in their gambling habits (both groups
have wagered on an average of four gambling activities during their
lifetimes and on two during the last year).
Southwesterners are more likely to have bet on dice and less likely
to have wagered on a horse race in their lifetimes than are other
adults living throughout the state.
Gambling activity during the last year by Southwesterners is virtually
identical to statewide activity.
Southwesterners show a gradual decline in lifetime participation
rates with increasing age whereas the state shows stable lifetime
participation rates for those aged 35-64.
Adults aged 45-54 living in Southwestern Minnesota are by far less
likely to have gambled recently than their peers living throughout
the state.
Lifetime gambling preferences for Southwestern men and women are
similar to those of men and women statewide.
INTRODUCTION
The 22 counties depicted on the cover of this report represent
what will be referred to as Southwestern Minnesota. The most rural
of Minnesota's six regions, it is home to 8 percent of the state's
population, two of the state's 16 Indian-owned casinos (with another
just across the border in Flandreau, S. D.), 348 (12 percent) of
the state's licensed charitable gambling locations and 391 (11 percent)
of the state's 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 purchase a lottery ticket
in South Dakota or Iowa.
But how does the gambling activity in this area compare to the
rest of the state? Are Southwesterners 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; 397 responses
came from Southwestern 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 Southwestern Minnesota
adults has changed in recent years. It also compares activity in
Southwestern Minnesota with state overall participation rates.
OVERALL GAMBLING PARTICIPATION
Eighty-eight percent of Southwestern Minnesota adults report having
gambled sometime during their lives ( that's about 232,000 of the
264,000 adults living in the region). With the exception of 1995
(most likely due to sampling error), the overall gambling participation
rates in Southwestern Minnesota are consistent with the state's
overall rate of 89 percent found both in 1996 and in 1997 2.
Gambling during the past year by Southwestern Minnesotans is also
very similar to the state's recent participation rate of 72 percent
of adults.
The number of gambling activities played by Southwestern 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 and on two during the last year.
The Minnesota State Lottery remains the most popular form of gambling
for Southwesterners and for the state populace as a whole. Nearly
two-thirds of the adults in both populations have played the Lottery
at some time during their lives. Southwesterners are more likely
to have bet on dice and less likely to have wagered on a horse race
in their lifetimes than are adults living throughout the state.
All other lifetime participation rates for Southwesterners mirror
statewide activity.
When we consider only recent gambling experience we find no significant
differences in participation rates between Southwesterners and adults
living throughout the state. Both populaces favor the Minnesota
State Lottery with nearly half of the adults in both populations
having played the Lottery during the past year. Indian casinos and
pulltabs are the second and third most popular activities, showing
recent participation rates by roughly one-third of both populations.
Slots/video rank the highest as the favorite form of gambling in
both Southwestern Minnesota and throughout the state for those having
a gambling preference. Southwesterners tend to prefer card games
other than blackjack more often than does a typical Minnesotan.
All other categories reflect statewide attitudes on favorite forms
of gambling.
THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF SOUTHWESTERN GAMBLERS
There is very little difference in gambling participation rates
between Southwestern Minnesota and the state overall for those under
the age of 35. Southwesterners show a gradual decline in lifetime
participation rates (from 96 percent in the 35-44 age group to 81
percent in the 65+ age group), while the state shows consistent
lifetime participation rates (around 91 percent) for those aged
35-64 declining to 78 percent only for seniors.
Gambling behavior within the past year by Southwesterners under
the age of 45 is similar to the state's participation rates. Adults
aged 45-54 living in Southwestern Minnesota are by far less likely
to have gambled recently than their peers living throughout the
state. Seniors are the least likely to have gambled recently.
Southwesterners without a high school diploma are the least likely
to have gambled during their lifetimes. All other categories hover
around the state's lifetime gambling participation rate of 89 percent,
suggesting that education has minimal influence on overall gambling
participation rates in Southwestern Minnesota and throughout the
state.
Lifetime gambling preferences for Southwestern men are predominately
similar to those of men throughout the state. Southwestern men are
less likely to have wagered on cards, social bets or sports events
during their lifetime than the state male populace as a whole. However,
a Southwestern man is more likely to have gambled on dice or at
an Indian casino than a typical Minnesotan man.
A Southwestern woman is just as likely to have gambled during her
lifetime as any Minnesota woman. Overall participation rates for
each of the groups are very similar at 84 and 85 percent. Additionally,
their gambling preferences are virtually identical to state participation
rates with the exception of horse racing. Southwestern women are
less likely to have bet on a horse race during their lifetimes than
are women statewide.
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 exceeded $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 more than $1.2 billion in FY97.
Southwestern Minnesota, with 8 percent of the state's population,
accounted for approximately 6 percent ($84 million) of state charitable
gambling sales and 7 percent ($26 million) of Lottery sales.
Although charitable gambling and Lottery sales differ greatly in
volume from each other and from county to county, for most counties
there is similarity in the proportion of total regional sales contributed
by each of the Southwestern counties. With few exceptions, county
populations as a percentage of the region, are also fairly consistent
with charitable gambling and Lottery sales.
McLeod County shows a higher percentage of charitable gambling
sales (15 percent) in relation to its populace of 9 percent for
no apparent reason. Martin County, with 6 percent of the region's
population, contributes 9 percent of regional Lottery sales. This
is most likely due to the amount of shopping done in Fairmont by
residents from surrounding counties.
The next charts depict gambling participation of Southwesterners
from 1993 through 1997. They show current and lifetime participation
rates for 12 of the 13 specific gambling activities discussed in
this report.
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, Conn. 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. For Southwestern
Minnesota, the estimated sample error is approximately plus or minus
5 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence.
[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.
