According to the Australian gambling statistics report produced by the Queensland treasury in April 2021, Australians spent $25 billion on a variety of gambling products in the 2018 financial year.
Source: Queensland Treasury, Australian gambling statistics, 36th edition
Pokies and gaming machines are the areas which Australians spent the most money in the 2018-19 financial year, racking up $12.7 billion AUD. Pokies were introduced to Australia in 1900’s and 1956 saw New South Wales become the first state to legalise the machines in registered clubs.
NSW now leads the country with 65,000 thousand machines in their state, whilst Victoria has 30,000. Western Australia has 0 pokies machines due to their prohibition in the 1987 Gaming and Wagering Act.
However the state has 2,500 electronic gaming machines which recently came under fire in the Crown Perth casino royal commission due to their similarity to pokies machines.
WA isn’t the only state to put regulations in place, ACT has begun a trial into self-regulation facial technology this year, said to ‘take the human error out’.
Advertising bans were placed nation-wide in 2018, Adverts related to betting are not allowed to be played during a game, during breaks and 5 minutes either side of a match between 5am – 8:30pm.
Research conducted by John Storer in 2009, showed that a dose-response relationships forms, meaning that the more machines available the more likely the prevalence of problem gambling is.
The study further showed that for every 1.25 machines introduced to an area, there would be an increase of one person likely to experience a problem with gambling.
Source: Queensland Treasury, Australian gambling statistics, 36th edition
Australia on a global scale has the largest loses for individuals per capita, with $US958 ($1,394) per adult in 2017. Las Vegas is synonymous with the gambling lifestyle yet came in hundreds of dollars shorter, with the US sitting at $US421 ($612) per adult in the same year.
2019 NSW gambling surveyed outlined some of the harms that come with problem gambling, with 2.93% of people feeling depressed and 2.21% losing sleep, from the 10,000 interviewed.
Source: Queensland Treasury, Australian gambling statistics, 36th edition
The amount of money spent by Australians in 2018-19 sat at $25 Billion AUD, whilst the turnover by businesses was $225 Billion, with the Australian Government making $6.6Billion in revenue that same year.
On a national scale limited regulations which have had an impact on the growing expenditure of money spent on gambling are in place, though in 2012 the Gillard government introduced the National Gambling Reform Bill 2012.
