Reddit Gamblers Show Surprising Interest in UberEats & Other Subreddits

Fun fact: Users of Reddit’s r/gambling subreddit are 68 times more likely to post or comment on r/ubereats. It’s true*, and we know that thanks to SubredditStats, a nifty free tool that analyzes subscriber data for the popular internet forums site.

Subreddits are the topic-specific communities that populate Reddit, the infamous popularity-based online forum. SubredditStats, as the name suggests, offers statistical data on usage. That includes a tool to determine how likely members of one community are to be members of others.

Unfortunately, SubredditStats could soon be among the third-party tools forced to shut down by changes in Reddit’s API policies. Users and subreddit moderators are currently protesting those changes.

Before it goes the way of the dodo, we used the power of SubredditStats to uncover where else gambling-focused Redditors spend their time on the site. The findings run the gamut from amusing – like the UberEats connection – to predictable to worrisome.

* A caveat: SubReddit stats cautions that its methods are approximate and that users should not rely on the accuracy of the data. 

Subreddits Help Connect Gambling Communities

Reddit is a popular platform for gambling enthusiasts.

Some of the biggest gambling subreddits are more specific than r/gambling. The biggest is r/sportsbook, with 352,000 subscribers. Not far behind are r/sportbetting (227,000) and r/poker (240,000).

Looking up the sports betting subreddits on SubredditStats returns what you’d expect — correlations with subreddits focused on leagues, teams, and trophies.

The results for r/poker are slightly less intuitive. They include strong associations with sports betting subreddits and other types of gambling. However, some more surprising correlations show up, such as r/golf, r/newyorkcity, and r/nutrition.

SubredditStats’ most interesting results, however, came from r/gambling.

Though smaller than the others, with about 85,000 subscribers, r/gambling casts a broader net. That may be why the subreddits it crosses over with are also a mixed bag.

Gambling Subreddits Figure Prominently

Unsurprisingly, Redditors that subscribe to r/gambling are interested in other subreddits with a gambling bent. The top 30 correlations are available in a table at the end of this article.

Topping that list is r/poker.

Users of r/gambling are 177 times more likely to participate in discussions on the poker channel than the average Redditor. Coming in two spots below is r/sportsbook, with the same users 40 times more likely to comment there.

Some other subreddits related to sports and betting also show high correlations with r/gambling:

• r/nbatopshot (17x)
• r/barstoolsports (12x)
• r/nrl (12x) (National Rugby League)

And while not expressly gambling-related, cryptocurrency is undoubtedly gambling-adjacent.

Notably, a couple of crypto-related subreddits also ranked quite high:

• r/crypto_com (14x)
• r/binance (13x)

However, beyond the expected, r/gambling returned a few surprises.

R/Gambling Subscribers an Eclectic Bunch

But r/gambling subscribers are a varied bunch. They show some very strong overlap with other topics of interest, yet the connection with gambling isn’t immediately apparent in some cases.

As a group, they are 68 times more likely to contribute to r/ubereats than the average user.

The delivery service subreddit, a space for drivers, customers, and the curious, is second overall among r/gambling’s correlated subreddits.

It’s far from the only eyebrow-raising item on the list. For instance, various forms of shopping and illegal drugs pop up repeatedly.

Subscribers to r/gambling are:

• 23x likelier to be active on r/mdma and 14x more likely to participate on r/opiates
• 20x likelier to share shopping wins on r/thriftstorehauls
• 18x  likelier to tell tales on r/instacartshoppers
• 22x likelier to reveal a secret on r/confession
• 13x likelier to join the conversation on r/stimuluscheck
• 12x likelier to be Canadians talking markets on r/canadianinvestor
• 9x likelier to engage with r/menslib
• 7x likelier to recall close encounters on r/aliens

The variety in the stats reflects the breadth of the r/gambling community.

Still, one correlation that one might expect is conspicuously absent — help for problem gambling and gambling addiction.

R/Lonely Correlates to Subreddits For Gambling Harm

According to SubredditStats today, r/gambling users aren’t any more likely than the average user to be members of r/problemgambling or r/gamblingaddiction. At least not enough to register in the captured data.

One might hypothesize that this could mean that users tend to leave r/gambling when joining subreddits dedicated to reducing or quitting the habit.

There’s one problem with that theory. Reversing the search, we found a significant gambling crossover when looking at correlations for those problem gambling subreddits. However, those connections were with specific gambling topics rather than with r/gambling.

Shockingly, the number one subreddit correlated with r/gamblingaddiction is r/poker. Subscribers to r/gamblingaddiction were 200 times likelier than the average user to be posting about poker.

Over at r/problemgambling, things were only marginally better. Users were 62 times likelier to be part of r/sportsbook and 38 times more inclined to interact with r/poker.

Other correlations are enlightening and perhaps provide some circumstantial insight into the causes of gambling addiction.

For instance, r/lonely correlated highly with both gambling-harm forums. Although not a scientific result in its own right, that could suggest that research is warranted into a possible relationship between loneliness, gambling, and addiction.

In truth, the results generated multiple questions worth exploring.

It’d be a shame if Reddit’s proposed changes killed that potential.

SubredditStats Results for r/gambling