Latest Aussie gambling stats show pokies still dominate

Sports betting losses are rapidly increasing in Australia but they remain way behind those incurred on the pokies, according to the latest statistics released this month.

The Australian Gambling Statistics show Australians lost A$ 22.7 billion in 2014-15, which equates to $1,242 per adult member of the national population.

Pokies remain the punters’ favourite and accounted for more than 70 percent of turnover and half the losses. More than A$12 billion was lost on electronic gaming machines, but sport betting losses are rapidly increasing, the numbers indicate.

Australian sport punters lost A$814.6 million in 2014-15, a 30 percent increase on the previous year and seven times what they lost in 2004-05. However, sports betting losses contributed just 7.7 percent of the overall increase in gambling losses for the financial year.

Anti-gambling politicians were quick to seize on the new figures, with Independent senator Nick Xenophon commenting:

“Governments can no longer ignore not only the huge amount of money lost on gambling but the harm gambling causes to our communities.”

The increased saturation of sports betting advertising in Australian media has been attributed to the spike in gambling losses.

However, CrownBet chief executive Matthew Tripp told local reporters that although online gambling and sport betting has increased, wagering as a whole is growing at a very slow rate.

Tripp is supportive of regulating when and where gambling can be advertised, but says suggested blanket bans on advertising are “fraught with danger”.

“It’ll force a lot of these gambling dollars back offshore into an unregulated environment,” he said Tuesday.