Aussies top global gambling stats
Australians love to gambling and it’s reflected in global gambling statistics that Australians are the biggest gambling losers in the world.
ABC News reports that UK-based global gaming analysts H2 Gambling Capital put Australia’s losses at US$958 per person in 2017, or $1324 Australian dollars, or 1.6 per cent of the average full time, pre-tax earnings.
In statistics published by the Queensland Treasury, the 35th edition of the Australian Gambling Statistics, regarded as the authoritative source of gambling statistics in Australia, show that, in total, Australians bet more than $242 billion in 2017-18.
National gambling losses are totalled at $24.88 billion, a five per cent increase on the last survey figures from 2016-17.
Hong Kong is the second highest, but a long way back at US$768 per person or 20 per cent less in terms of losses.
New Zealanders lose less than half as much gambling as Australians.
Singapore, Finland and NZ in top 5
The top 15 list of average gambling loss per adult has Singapore in third (US$725), Finland in fourth (US$515) and New Zealand fifth with US$454.
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello said in December that the impacts of these high losses could no longer be tolerated.
“Gambling harm encompasses everything from the loss of homes and relationships, to the loss of lives through deaths by suicide associated with gambling harm” Mr Costello said.
“There are direct connections in some instances between gambling harm and family violence and mental ill-health.
“When you consider for every person directly experiencing gambling harm it is estimated at least six more people connected to those people experience some impact, we are talking about an issue that affects an extraordinary number of Australians,” he said.
In terms of online gambling spend, Macau leads all regions.
Macau’s high tourist population ensures its position, while despite Australia’s exception numbers when it comes to losses and accumulated revenue, it is largely due to its abundance of bricks and mortar poker machines.
The Chinese government holds regular lotteries, yet most of the online and live betting that is commonplace around the world is prohibited.
The previous Portuguese colony of Macau is a gambling hotspot in the region and is home to the most significant online casino gambling business in the world.
It acts as a special administrative region in China.
There are 38 casinos in Macau to keep punters busy, while its VIPs and hot shots are some of the wealthiest in the world.
Lotteries are the biggest gambling segment
According to Businesswire, the lotteries segment was the largest segment of the gambling market in 2018 at 46.1 per cent or $207.3 billion.
The sports betting segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment moving forward, while the casino market is segmented by sales channels into offline, online and virtual reality.
Offline gambling remains the largest segment by sales at 94.3 per cent, with virtual reality expected to grow.
The Asia-Pacific was the largest global market for gambling, accounting for 32.7 per cent of the global market in 2018.
It was followed by North America and Western Europe.
Asia-Pacific and Africa will be the fastest growing regions in the gambling market according to Businesswire, expected to grow at 7.9 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively.
