The number of gamblers among younger Singaporeans has dropped by a significant 10 per cent, a recent survey has shown.

Findings of the second study by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), carried out earlier this year, showed that while the number of gamblers among the older respondents (aged 30 years and above) remained at about the same level as 2006, at 62 per cent, there was a sharp drop of 10 per cent in the number of younger gamblers (aged below 30) - from 48 per cent to 38 per cent.

The number of women gamblers also fell by 6 per cent - down to 51 per cent this year. There were more men than women gamblers - 61 per cent against 51 per cent.

The Chinese and Indians were much more likely than Malays to consider various gambling forms as leisure activities. They also see gambling as a good way of social bonding among friends.

In both the 2006 and 2007 surveys, the majority of gamblers indicated that they would set a gambling limit or budget. Only a minority of these (14 per cent) admitted that they had faced difficulties in some aspects of their lives, such as health, finance, job, school or relationship, because of gambling activities.

"These findings suggest that the large majority of gamblers are generally aware of the risk of problem gambling and the majority of them are not adversely affected by their gambling behaviour," said the NCPG report, released on Monday.

But it noted that the proportion who had faced difficulites in some aspects of their lives because of gambling activities had gone up significantly by 4 per cent - from 10 per cent in 2006 to 14 per cent in 2007.