Your preferred casino game can say a lot about your personality and lifestyle; your weight, health, how much you drink and smoke, even how intelligent you are. What’s your game of choice?

We focus most of our passion on the game of blackjack, which is undoubtedly the best casino game known to man. Being a game of skill, intrigue and mathematical analysis, it attracts the cream of the casino gambling crop.

But many casino gamblers prefer other games, like blackjack or baccarat, even slots. And according to a recent study by gaming firm Jackpot UK, the casino game you spend most of your time playing says a lot about your lifestyle and physical health.

Fat, sick, drunk and reeking of tobacco: the slots player

If your preferred game is slots or video poker, you should do something about changing that, and quick. According to the Jackpot study, the average British slot aficionado has a body mass index (BMI) of 31, well above the national average of already fat Britain.

Slot players are also more likely to smoke and drink heavily, especially women. Not only that, but if you play slots you are most likely very, very stupid, as the house edge on any slot is at least 2.5% and potentially as high as 25%. It’s literally flushing the money down the toilet.

We always knew that intelligent people don’t play slot games, but now we know that physically fit, healthy people don’t play them either.

Young, healthy, male and just a tad bit boozy: the poker player

In contrast to the lump pouring his life savings into the slot machine in the corner of the casino, the poker player is healthier and younger than most other gamblers. Five years younger than the average gambler and with a BMI of 27, this is the gambler most of us aspire to be.

The average poker player drinks a bit more than what the NHS says is healthy, but who doesn’t? And who really cares what the NHS thinks is healthy anyway?

Poker players are intelligent (we’re talking about the ultimate game of cat and mouse) stylish, and often very attractive (Vanessa Rousso, Annie Duke and Phil Ivey come to mind).

Plus the poker player has exemplary casino table manners but doesn’t leave until he/she has mentally and emotionally destroyed her opponent. What could be sexier than that?

A wolf in sheep’s clothing: the blackjack player

Here’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The average British blackjack player has a BMI of 28%, slightly above the national average and higher than poker and baccarat players. The study did find, however, that blackjack players keep it on the straight and narrow when it comes to booze intake.

While slots players are drunken loonies and poker freaks are prone to social drinking, a much lower portion of blackjack players exceed NHS recommendations.

The reason is simple. Blackjack is a game of skills requiring the careful application of advanced strategies like shuffle tracking and card counting systems.

You might as well be piss drunk at the slot machine or the roulette table, you’re going to watch your bankroll disappear anyway.

But in blackjack you can actually win serious money if you play your cards right. That means staying sober. You not have a pristine body, but you know what you’re doing.

A rare, exotic, emaciated breed: the paigow player

Paigow isn’t all that popular in Britain; according to the survey fewer than 1% of respondents called it their most commonly played game. Those who do play, are rail thin with an average BMI of only 23, well below the UK average of 27.

The game is known for its slow progression and high rate of pushes, which may be the reason few Westerners enjoy it. Paigow is an ancient Chinese game, enjoyed primarily by Chinese immigrants and their descendants in Britain.

If you do play paigow, besides being extremely thin you also have a thing for nostalgia. You probably fancy yourself as some kind of intellectual and take a patronizing interest in non-Western cultures.

You’re also much more likely than other gamblers to smoke; almost half of British paigow players smoke regularly, well above the overall 20% of Britons who smoke.

Living life on the cutting edge: the mobile gambler

Mobile blackjack, slots and poker are taking the world by storm, gradually making desktop gambling obsolete with a global iGaming market share approaching 20%. When we gamble using our iPhone, Nokia Lumia or Samsung Galaxy, we feel cool. And that’s because we are cool.

According to the study those who prefer to gamble on desktop computers are more likely than other gamblers to be fat, smoke regularly and guzzle copious amounts of booze. Basically the same fate that awaits slot players.

But none of that applies to mobile gambling, the other side of the iGaming coin. Mobile gamblers have BMIs equal to the national average, 27. Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum had this to say:

A sedentary lifestyle is concurrent with a loss of physical activity. But that’s not all, it’s also associated with snacking on foods that are stuffed with sugar and calories… There may be a chink of light on the horizon in 5-10 years as we move around and use tablets and mobile devices on the move.

Gambling on the go is not only cool and trendy, it’s also go for your health. Go figure.