ESRI Research Highlights How Initial Online Gambling Accounts Lead to Expanded Participation Across Multiple Formats

Research released by the Economic and Social Research Institute and commissioned by Ireland’s Gambling Regulatory Authority shows that nearly four in ten individuals who begin with an online account for sports, horse racing, or lotteries go on to explore additional gambling options such as online casino games, slots, and scratch cards; the findings come from a survey of one thousand gamblers and emphasize patterns of account creation along with a broader shift toward digital platforms.

Survey Scope and Core Discoveries

The study examined a representative sample of one thousand gamblers and documented how an initial online registration for specific activities often serves as an entry point to other formats, with data indicating that this progression occurs among almost forty percent of those who start in that manner; researchers tracked participant behavior across categories and noted that the transition happens without requiring separate prompting from operators.

Figures reveal consistent movement from narrow starting points into wider engagement, where people who open accounts for sports betting or lotteries frequently add casino-style games or scratch cards to their routines; the report connects this pattern directly to the convenience of existing accounts rather than external marketing factors alone.

Multiple Account Ownership Trends

Over half of the surveyed individuals maintain at least two online accounts while ten percent hold four or more, creating a landscape where users navigate several platforms simultaneously; this multiplicity appears alongside the expansion into varied gambling types and suggests that account holders treat different sites as complementary rather than competitive options.

Observers note that those with several accounts demonstrate higher likelihoods of trying new formats because each platform offers distinct features or promotions, yet the study attributes the core driver to the initial account setup itself; data shows this behavior spans age groups and activity levels without concentration in any single demographic.

Online Play Surpassing In-Person Activity

Online participation now exceeds in-person gambling among the sample, reflecting changes in access and preference that have accelerated in recent years; the research places this shift within the context of account creation, where digital registration removes barriers that once limited experimentation to physical venues.

People often find that starting with one online channel opens pathways to others because login credentials and payment methods carry over easily, and the ESRI analysis quantifies how this ease contributes to the nearly four-in-ten transition rate; the report further separates the data by gambling type to illustrate that sports and lottery starters show comparable movement toward slots and casino games.

Context Within Regulatory Developments

Ireland’s Gambling Regulatory Authority commissioned the work to inform oversight of expanding digital markets, and the resulting statistics provide baseline measurements for tracking future changes in player behavior; the full report details methodology and sample composition while underscoring that online accounts function as gateways rather than isolated endpoints.

Researchers discovered the patterns through structured questioning about account history and subsequent activity, allowing direct comparison between single-format users and those who diversified; the evidence points to account ownership as a structural factor that supports broader participation once the first registration occurs.

Conclusion

The ESRI findings establish measurable links between initial online account creation for sports, horse racing, or lotteries and later adoption of additional formats, supported by statistics on multiple accounts and the dominance of digital over in-person play; these elements together describe a current state of gambling engagement in Ireland that regulatory bodies can reference when monitoring market evolution through late 2026 and beyond.