Australia Problem Gambling Statistics
We have compiled a list of resources on problem gambling issues, including links to other problem gambling related websites and resources. Additionally, we maintain an Online Directory of International Certified Gambling Counselors and a listing of inpatient and residential treatment facilities. This statistic depicts the results of a survey about the distribution of regular poker players across Australia in 2015, by gambling problem severity.
- Australia Problem Gambling Statistics Since
- Australia Problem Gambling Statistics Uk
- Australia Problem Gambling Statistics Worldwide
- Australia Problem Gambling Statistics Articles
Australia has more poker machines per person than any country in the world, excluding casino-tourism destinations like Macau and Monaco. It has nearly 200,000 machines – one for every 114 people.
This startling statistic resulted from a wave of pokie liberalisation during the 1990s that saw them introduced into pubs and clubs in every state and territory – except Western Australia.
To track the social impacts of this expansion, state and territory governments have commissioned surveys to measure the levels of gambling consumption and gambling-related harm. In total, more than 275,000 Australians have been interviewed in 42 studies of this kind since 1994.
We recently conducted an analysis of these studies to build a nationwide picture of how pokie gambling has changed across Australia over the past 25 years. We linked the participation rates reported by the surveys with government data on actual poker machine expenditure in pubs and clubs for each jurisdiction – converted into 2015 dollars to account for inflation.
The expenditure data exclude poker machines in casinos; these data are not disaggregated for government reporting purposes.
Consequently, the figures we present here should be considered minimums – especially in Tasmania and the Northern Territory, where a large proportion of pokies are located in casinos. WA is excluded from the expenditure analysis because it has no pokies outside Burswood Casino.
A recent gradual decline in pokie losses
Australia Problem Gambling Statistics Since
Nationally, pokie losses in pubs and clubs increased fourfold between 1990 and 2000 before plateauing at around A$860 per adult per year in 2005. Since 2005, there has been a consistent gradual decline in gambling losses across the various jurisdictions. Throughout this period, pokie losses per adult in New South Wales have remained around 50% higher than the national average.
The biggest contributor to the decline since 2005 has been tobacco control, not gambling policy. The introduction of indoor smoking bans across Australia in the 2000s hit pokie revenues quite hard.
It is also likely that caps on pokie numbers – which have been relatively stable since 2000 – played a role in limiting pokie expenditure.
However, this should give no reason for complacency. The decline in pokie revenue is slowing, and possibly beginning to reverse in NSW, the NT and Queensland.
Current annual losses on pokies in pubs and clubs for Australia amount to $633 per adult. Losses in NSW are highest at $978 per adult and lowest in Tasmania at $283 per adult – although casinos play a more important role in Tasmania.
These figures are very high by world standards. The losses by Australians on pokies outside of casinos dwarf those of any other comparable country. They are 2.4 times greater than those of our nearest rival, Italy.
These losses are even more anomalous when compared to non-casino gambling machines in other English-speaking countries. Australians lose three times more than New Zealanders, 4.1 times more than Canadians, 6.4 times more than the Irish, 7.5 times more than the British, and 9.8 times more than Americans.
Falling numbers of pokie gamblers
The modest decline in losses since the mid-2000s has been driven by a falling number of people playing the pokies.
The chart below shows the proportion of the adult population in each Australian state or territory that gambles on pokies at least once per year. These proportions are derived from the surveys described above. Each survey estimate is represented by a single dot.
Participation rates peaked shortly after pokies were introduced in the late 1990s at around 40% for the larger states. Since that time, participation has consistently dropped to below 30% across Australia and has fallen to less than 20% in Tasmania, Victoria and the ACT.
Amounts lost per gambler have remained constant
Australia Problem Gambling Statistics Uk
Dividing the pokie losses in clubs and pubs for each jurisdiction by the number of actual gamblers reveals the average amount lost per pokie gambler per year as shown by the chart below. Some lines on this chart are shorter than others because the survey-based participation data is not uniformly available.
The reduction in total pokie losses since 2005 has not been matched by a corresponding decline in losses per individual gambler. After a reduction due to the smoking bans, losses per gambler appear to have plateaued – with some jurisdictions trending up (ACT and NT) and others down (NSW and SA).
This suggests that while fewer people are playing the pokies, the amount of money lost per gambler has remained relatively constant. And this amount appears very high.
The amount lost per pokie gambler (just in pubs and clubs) in both NSW and Victoria is around $3,500 per year, or around $65 per week. The ACT sits at around $3,000 per gambler per year, followed by the NT and Tasmania at around $1,500 per year.
To put this in some perspective, the average Australian adult spent $1,245 on electricity and gas in 2014-15.
And while we now have concerted government action to reduce energy costs, the regulatory reforms required to reduce the amount of losses for pokie gamblers are not on the legislative agenda in most of Australia.
Gambling is a popular entertainment among Australians. Over 80% of Australian adults engage in gambling of some kind, which is the highest rate of gambling in the world.
Gambling is also a significant public health issue, with around 80,000 to 160,000 (or 0.5 - 1.0%) of Australian adults experiencing significant problems from gambling and a further 250,000 to 350,000 (or 1.4 - 2.1% of adults) experiencing moderate risks that may make them vulnerable to problem gambling.
Australia's Gambling Environment:
Australians love a punt and new research shows we wager more, and lose more, than any other country in the world. But some people say this is just because we have the most opportunity to gamble, given the huge numbers of venues that provide some form of gambling.
The 2010 Productivity Commission's Inquiry into Gambling found that there are as many as 6,807 hotels, pubs and clubs providing gaming in Australia. There are at least 4700 lottery outlets. And there are 13 casinos with more being planned.
According to 2014 statistics Tabcorp Limited offers totalisator and fixed odds betting on racing and sporting events in approximately 2,800 TAB retail outlets in agencies, hotels, clubs, as well as on-course in Victoria and New South Wales, and via internet, mobile devices, phone and pay TV. Sky Racing also owned by Tabcorp, is available in approximately 2.6 million homes and 5,400 commercial outlets in Australia, covering 90,000 races per annum. There are approximately 3,600 Keno outlets in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and approximately 6,200 Keno terminals
In the financial year of 2015-2016 Australians lost approximately $24 billion to gambling — more per capita than any other nation — with pokies by far the biggest contributor to those losses.
Gaming Machines
All states and territories in Australia have Electronic Gaming Machines (also known as gaming machines, EGMs, poker machines or 'pokies') available at licensed venues (with the exception of Western Australia which allows EGMs only at the casino and the ACT where Casino Canberra is not licensed to provide EGMs)
According to the World Count of Gaming Machines 2016, Australia has the sixth highest number of gambling machines in the world. Australia is estimated to have 197,122 electronic gaming machines (EGMs), which is 2.50% of the world's legally installed machines.
Around 600,000 Australians (4 per cent of the adult population) play on the 'pokies' at least weekly. While survey results vary, around 15 per cent of these regular players (95 000) are 'problem gamblers'. And their share of total spending on machines is estimated to range around 40 per cent.
The problems experienced by gamblers are as much a consequence of the technology of the games, their accessibility and the nature and conduct of venues, as they are a consequence of the traits of the gamblers themselves. NSW machines currently allow bets of up to $10,000 at a time. Current machines have up to 25 pay lines. In NSW the current max bet is $10 per spin.
Gambling in NSW:
New South Wales has a long history of gambling; Australia's first official horse racing meeting occurred in 1810 at Hyde Park in Sydney; the first official Australian lottery occurred in 1881 at the Sydney Cup; and registered clubs operated the first legal poker machines in Australia in 1956.
Approximately 95,800 of Australia's 'pokies' are in NSW, a state total beaten only by Nevada, which operated 181,109 gambling machines in 2014, and of course is home to Las Vagas. Between 1 December 2017 to 31 May 2018 NSW Clubs made a net profit of $1,945,161,625 (one billion, nine hundred forty-five million, one hundred sixty-one thousand, six hundred twenty-five dollars) and hotels made a net profit of $1,169,040,731 = one billion, one hundred sixty-nine million, forty thousand, seven hundred thirty-one dollars) from pokies alone.
The 2011 NSW Gambling Prevalence Survey found that the most popular gambling activity undertaken among the NSW adult population is lottery products (41%), followed by instant scratch tickets (28%), pokies/gaming machines (27%), horse/greyhound races (24%), Keno (14%), sports betting (8%), table games in a casino (7%), private card games for money (3%), bingo (3%) and casino or pokies-style games on the Internet (2%). A breakdown of the most popular gambling activities for the Central Coast and Hunter reigons can be found in the table below:
Gambling on the Central Coast
According to the latest figures from Liquor and Gaming NSW there are 4,046 poker machines in 39 clubs on the Central Coast, and 626 poker machines in 29 hotels; making a total of 4,672 poker machines on the Central Coast. That means 2.37% of the total number of poker machines in Australia are on the NSW Central Coast.
Australia Problem Gambling Statistics Worldwide
In the six month period from 1 December 2017 to 31 May 2018 Clubs on the Central Coast made a net profit of $105,317,922.40 (One hundred five million, three hundred seventeen thousand, nine hundred twenty-two dollars and forty cents) from pokies and Hotels made a net profit of $24,714,552 (twenty-four million, seven hundred fourteen thousand, five hundred fifty-two dollars.) [source - https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au/resources/gaming-machine-data]
The Central Coast has a higher prevalence of problem gambling than the NSW average. Young men between the ages of 18-24 living on the Central Coast are the biggest players of poker machines in NSW and are the highest risk group for problem gambling.
Australia Problem Gambling Statistics Articles
In 2008 Gambling Solutions carried out a survey of 200 young people aged from 13-24 and found that:
- 96% of people from 18-24 had gambled for money or possessions
- 62 % of those under 14 years old and 77 % of those aged up to 17 had gambled for money or items, including mobile phones and MP3 players
- 25.5% of 14-17 year olds and 55 % of 18-24 year olds had lost more than they had intended,
- and 6% under 18 had played a poker machine
Internet gambling in the Central Coast was the highest in NSW (5%). Although nearly invisible in official records, internet gambling appears to have grown rapidly, and spending could amount to around $800 million in the most recent year.