According to a report released by “Globes”, an Israeli business publication, Israelis like to gamble, spending nearly twice as much per capita on gambling than do American citizens. The report referred to a survey conducted by the Credit Information Association, which revealed that Israelis spend about ten billion shekels a year on gambling. The figures indicate that Israeli gamblers have surpassed their European and American counterparts in expenditure per capita on legal gambling activities. While Americans spend an average of $250 a year gambling and Europeans spend an average of $135 a year gambling, Israelis are spending about $440 a year on gambling. Of the ten billion shekels spent on gambling, expenditures were broken down as follows: 3.5 billion shekels are spent on the lotto regular lottery draw and Toto sports betting tickets. Another 1.5 billion shekels are spent on legal bets placed through cellular networks and the Internet and approximately 5.5 billion shekels were spent on illegal forms of gambling either overseas and within Israel. The profile of a typical Israeli gambler is described as someone between the age of 40 to 60 years, resides in the city, has an average income, and routinely buys lotto regular lottery draw tickets, Toto sports betting tickets, TDB Hish Gad (scratch card) lottery cards and Chance lottery draw tickets. Thirty percent of regular Hish Gad, Lotto, and Toto players are age 16 to 35. Posted on: April 7, 2006
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