If you ask anyone outside of Australia which country gambles the most, they might tell you that it’s the US, based on the success of Vegas, Atlantic City and Reno, or even Macao, the Eastern Sin City. Believe it or not though, the country that spends the most money on gambling, and the country that has a higher percentage of gamblers, is Australia.
Australia’s gambling history is split between different states. For instance, New South Wales has a long history of legal gambling, with the first lottery founded more than 100 years ago and with poker machines created 60 years ago. In Western Australia, the gambling laws are a little tighter and whilst slot machines are common throughout the country, found in pubs and clubs, in Western Australia you will only find them in the biggest casinos, such as the Crown in Perth.
This is because all states operate on individual gambling laws, with acts like the Gaming Machines Act of 2001 and the Unlawful Gambling Act of 1998 governing New South Wales, and the Betting Control Act of 1954 governing Western Australia.
Online gambling is mostly legal in Australia, but as with many gambling laws, it isn’t quite as straightforward as that. For example, a nationwide law (the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001) states that it is illegal for Australian gambling sites to offer real money gambling services to Aussie customers. There are loopholes, and using these services is perfectly legal, but that makes online gambling difficult to find in this country, at least from a local source. If the gambling site is based overseas, however, which many of them are, then there are no such issues.
In fact, because of their obsession with gambling, Australian players make up a large percentage of gamblers on sportsbooks, poker sites and online casinos all over the world.
Offline gambling is available in most states. Even in Western Australia, where there are no slot machines in pubs, hotels or restaurants, you can still find some big casinos where all forms of gambling are offered. The focus in Australia is definitely on slot machines and casino gambling, but there are sportsbooks and racebooks throughout the country as well. These generate a lot of tax income for the government and it is generally thought that they don’t cause as many gambling addictions as slot machines, which makes them a win-win for everyone involved.
It has been estimated that more than 80% of the Australian population gamble on a regular basis. Most of this gambling happens on slot machines, known as “pokies” in Australia (a term coined from “poker machines”), but sports betting is also very popular. Most of the money goes on sports like rugby union, rugby league and cricket, but Aussie rules football, soccer and motor racing also have a substantial following.
One of the biggest gamblers in the world, Zeljko Ranogajec, is also from Australia. This sports fan reportedly makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year. His activities account for close to 10% of all revenue generated by TabCorp, an Aussie bookmaker, and for a third of all BetFair bets placed in Australia. Between gambling on these two sites and watching his bets unfold, it’s amazing that he has any time left to enjoy his winnings.
Each Aussie gambler is said to lose a few thousand dollars every year on average, with the average increasing to $21,000 for problem gamblers and regular gamblers. The 18 to 24 demographic gamble more than any other, which is perhaps why sportsbook adverts always try to appeal to the younger crowd.
In Australia, the traditions of gambling have always been centered on slot machines. These can be found in many pubs and other venues, and in most states. It is almost part of the coming-of-age tradition in Australia, going down to the pub, drinking a few pints of lager and spending a few dollars on a “pokie”. These machines are not without their problems, but it is clearly not going to be easy to get rid of something that is so ingrained in the culture of a country.
In 2009 figures were released that said Australian gamblers spent over $19 billion in that year alone. This is a huge figure, but it is one that has continued to climb ever since. It’s not as easy to calculate a correct figure these days, as the popularity of online gambling and the difficulties of getting accurate information from that skews those figures. Still, we can safely assume it is at least 50% higher.
It has also been reported that as many as half a million Australians are at risk of developing gambling addictions, and that those addictions will cost communities as much as $5 billion across the country. These addictions are predominantly caused by slot machines, which can cost a single player as much as $2,000 in just one hour of play. Women are more susceptible to addiction via slot machines than men are, with as many as 9 out of 10 female gambling addicts blaming these machines for their troubles.
Maybe the answer for Australians is to shift the focus from “pokies” to sports betting. After all, most Aussies love their sports and gambling on them seems to have much less of a negative impact than other forms of gambling.
