Online gambling has come a long way since the advent of the world wide web. The current number of online gamblers is in the millions all over the world. Literally hundreds of new casinos open every month.....some close just as quickly. As long as you have a credit card, or almost any kind of web wallet account, you could be gambling literally in minutes. You can also make money off other gamblers, either as an affiliate, or working directly for the casinos. There's big fun around every virtual corner. As long as you have some cash, you will be catered to, wooed, made to feel like a king.

Notice I said "king". NOT "queen". At this point in time in the online gambling world, it helps to be male. In fact, it's almost necessary to be male. Most casinos are owned by males, most affiliate managers are male, most owners of the bigger gambling portals and forums are male, the people putting on the conventions are male, most of the online gambling writers are male....you get the picture.

Traditionally, gambling of any type has been a domain of the male of the species. From the Roman guards drawing lots for the robe of Christ, to the Rat Pack during the heyday of Vegas "cool", the men did the wagering, the men claimed the spoils. Women, for the most part, were window dressing......something pretty for the men to look at, and paw, while they forked over the cash to the casinos. Women were objects, prizes in themselves. That is, the pretty ones with bullet bras. The wives of the gamblers were delegated to the slot machines, where they wouldn't make a fuss over their husbands and boyfriends making fools of themselves over the chicks who put up with it all on the off-chance those middle-aged dolts would give them a stack of chips.

Things haven't changed all that much since online gambling started. Men are still in charge, mostly. However....the real world HAS changed. Most women are in the work force, and almost all women have access to the household money. A growing number of these women are gambling.....and they're doing it online. So, is the online gambling industry jumping on this potentially giant money-making opportunity? No. And yes. Well, sort of. Sometimes.

ONE HAND ON THE MOUSE, ONE HAND UNDER THE DESK
Sex sells. We all know it. Donald Trump swears by it. "Coffee, tea, or me?" is alive and well in online gambling advertising. From slightly risquee campaigns such as "Do you want to poker?", complete with a scantily clad cutie-pie draped across a velvet couch.....to the more overt "Vote for the hottest babe!" in g-string and a smile, female as prize is THE most used come-on to get men to gamble. Casinos, poker rooms, sportsbooks (especially sportsbooks), use this approach. Not all, but enough do that sometimes when perusing the banners on any page of any portal, you might find yourself wondering if you had accidentally stumbled across a porn site.

It's almost comical how simple this strategy is. The gambler sees these gorgeous, albeit fake, girls....literally begging men to drop some cash in that casino. In the back of his mind, the gambler thinks......."If I do what she wants, she'll want me." Sorry, sucker. The odds of you attracting that type of woman are about as good as the odds that that phone-sex chick you've spent so much time talking to really IS 19, 5 foot 5, 103 pounds, blond, with 38-D boobs. But, I'm sure most male online gamblers know that this whole thing is just an advertising gimmick. Fairly sure. OK......a lot of them fall for this stuff hook, lone, and sinker.

There's a dark undercurrent in this "sex sells" mentality. Some casinos peddle a sort of child porn. Under the guise of such titles as "Teen Steam", they are selling the idea of sex with very young girls. One casino in particular, in their software, has a slot game wherein, if you win, you have a choice of looking at explicit pictures of either women, couples, or teens. Somewhere on the casino site itself is the disclaimer that all models are at least 18 years of age. However, the "teens" look damn young. They're supposed to. Pigtails, small breasts.....many of these girls look all of 15, 14, even 13. Is the IDEA of sex with children any less evil than the actual fact? Not in my opinion. In essence, we have casinos catering to pedophiliacs. Why even use this approach? Casinos who use this tactic have tapped a unique source of income.....perverts with cash.

PATTING OUR PRETTY LITTLE HEADS
So, if sex sells, what are the casinos doing to attract women and their disposeable income? Are we getting hunks with come-hither looks and six-pack abs? Are we getting the chance to vote for our favorite Chippendale dancer? Is Fabio draped seductively on a velvet couch wearing nothing but a loin cloth, begging us to play Jacks or Better?

Not exactly.

From what I have seen, no casino is actively going after the woman gambler, at least not with sex. The casinos will take our money, of course.

But there is no active marketing campaign aimed directly at the female consumer....certainly not by the casinos who actively go after the males with nudge-nudge wink-wink campaigns.

The latent phenomenon that is the game of Texas Hold-em has not escaped women's attentions. As the number of online poker rooms increases, so does the number of women poker players. In the poker rooms themselves, sexism among players rears its ugly head. If you're female and have a gender-neutral alias, for the most part you will be left alone. However, if you're female, have an obviously female alias, and dare to deviate from accepted playing strategy, and lose.....chances are there's at least one moronic trogolodyte male who will slam you with gender-specific slurs. And if you WIN......then he'll really give you grief. There are men out there who truly believe that women not only can't play poker, they shouldn't even be allowed to play. To combat this, there are women-only poker clubs that have cropped up.....women getting together to play in private poker rooms in order to avoid the cat-calls and name-calling. I have played with women, I have played with men, and I have seen very little difference in the frequency of winning by either gender.

While it seems the casinos don't have specific campaigns to attract female gamblers, one poker room recently announced their plans to attract more women players. What was their brilliant marketing strategy? Brightly colored chips. Bigger chat boxes, so that the ladies could gossip with ease. I'm serious. To attract women players, they decided to cater to the silliest of female stereotypes. Can't you just hear the squeals of delight across the land? Could someone please refresh my memory...What century is this?


GET YE TO THE BACK OF THE BUS
More and more women are getting into the online gambling business, as affiliates, affiliate managers, webmasters, even casino owners. However, from where I sit, the ceiling isn't just glass, it's stained glass, with images of strippers and lap dances and those stupid hats with the straws and beer cans on either side.

Recently, there was an online casino affiliate's convention in Las Vegas. Casino owners and affiliates got together to network, strategize, and generally shmoose. Quite a few women were to attend. What did the guy who was putting together this whole convention plan for the last night for all the affliates...male and female? A "Frat Party"....complete with bikini-clad mud wrestlers.

A recent thread at This Casino Sucks, a gambling forum with an irreverant attitude, entitled " Stand Up and Be Counted, Industry Women" called into question this cheesy, unoriginal, and certainly male-specific event. A certain "Spud_Goodbody"....reputed to be the male webmaster of a board that helps people start casinos, and...ahem....organize events, replied twice in the thread, first with "Male entertainers cost more. Any suggestions?"....implying that catering to the female affiliates at the event was not worth the money. When that post was met with understandable derision, he then came back with this witty retort, "His standards aren't low enough to entertain the women in this industry. You girls just need to get laid, but blind male entertainers are in great demand and short supply."

Nice, huh? Oh well. I'm sure he's just overcompensating for his teeny tiny itsy bitsy miniscule.....umm.......brain?

Luckily, most of the women who are venturing into this business aren't willing to take this sad crap any more. Alternative conventions, affiliate organizations with fair and gender-neutral rules, etc., are being planned and implemented. That stained glass ceiling is starting to show some cracks.


SO WHAT DO WOMEN REALLY WANT, ANYWAY?
While women in the industry are making headway, what about the female gambler? Fortunately, there are plenty of casinos, poker rooms, and bingo halls that aren't basing their entire marketing strategy on catering to the male libido. What would make them successful is to give every gambler what every casino should be offering the female gambler.......

Fair odds.
Excellent customer service.
Easy and quick cash outs.
Attainable bonus wagering requirements.


Now, was that so hard? Of course....Fabio draped seductively on a velvet couch wearing nothing but a loin cloth wouldn't exactly hurt.

Squealing with delight....Swampwitch