Article: Australian gamblers lose a record $24b in a year

[Nightwatchman]

The Age, Melbourne, Australia
Nick Toscano

Australian gambling losses have hit an all-time high after punters burned through nearly $24 billion in a year, more than half of which was poured into poker machines at pubs and clubs across the country.

New government statistics reveal pokies losses grew 4.2 per cent nationally, roughly double the rate of inflation to reach $12 billion in 2015-16, while sports betting remained the fastest-growing form of gambling.

More:

http://www.theage.com.au/business/australian-gamblers-lose-a-record-24b-in-a-year-20171201-gzwr30.html

[1715226691]

1715226691

[Nightwatchman]

For those in the US, that's around $18b.

For those in Europe, that's around Euro 15.5b.

Interestingly, the report doesn't measure crypto gambling, which is surely now big enough to be in the conversation.

[DARKANGEL6415]

Well that amount is no small pocket change especially if it is only for Australia. I honestly thought only the USA and Asian countries was the gambling type. Now if this losses are true i am sure the government would still get some kind of tax that they can use for like schools and so forth  like they do in the USA.

[bbc.reporter]

That shows that bitcoin gambling sites have a long way to go to grab a large portion of that market share. Some of them have started having their own ICOs to get funding for expansion, new product offerings and marketing their sites towards the mainstream gamblers.

Some of them cannot stay small forever.

[piloder]

I thought those losses was also including losses in bitcoin based casino, I think that figure might go upto $30 billion if losses in crypto casinos will be included.

Bitcoin is quite popular in australia and many are using it in daily life so they might also be using it to gamble without exposing themselves.

[icanscript]

I think these figures are greatly understated.
It is not a secret that in the gaming system in every way they avoid taxation. Add a crypto casino here.
Against the backdrop of these figures, information about $ 18 billion in the US does not look convincing.

[bad_ip]

This year Australia made external online gambling sites virtually illegal, so chances are these stats are from the reporting (ie. legal) gambling operators prior to the "shutdown".  I'm sure the actual numbers were far larger.

[Hell-raiser]

This year Australia made external online gambling sites virtually illegal, so chances are these stats are from the reporting (ie. legal) gambling operators prior to the "shutdown".  I'm sure the actual numbers were far larger.

Stunna, the owner of PrimeDice, seems to be an Aussie, if I'm not mistaken. Thus it shouldn't surprise anyone that gambling is rampant in those quarters, and that the Australian government obviously doesn't quite like it. Making online gambling sites illegal most likely won't change a thing, though. These sites will just move elsewhere.

[bad_ip]

This year Australia made external online gambling sites virtually illegal, so chances are these stats are from the reporting (ie. legal) gambling operators prior to the "shutdown".  I'm sure the actual numbers were far larger.

Stunna, the owner of PrimeDice, seems to be an Aussie, if I'm not mistaken. Thus it shouldn't surprise anyone that gambling is rampant in those quarters, and that the Australian government obviously doesn't quite like it. Making online gambling sites illegal most likely won't change a thing, though. These sites will just move elsewhere.

Ah yeah it's not really that "illegal" gambling sites targeting Aussies can't still do it, it's just that they aren't supposed to. 

[badjacks99]

For those in the US, that's around $18b.

For those in Europe, that's around Euro 15.5b.

Interestingly, the report doesn't measure crypto gambling, which is surely now big enough to be in the conversation.

That’s a very good point night watchman. I guarantee if the crypto currency gambling stats were available  i’m sure we’d all be surprised that it would probably be about double that. I take it because you’re reporting on an Australian article that you’re from Australia? What kind of Internet gambling laws do they have over there, are they strict of the United States when it comes to Internet gambling? Since online gambling got banned in 2006 a lot of the American gamblers switched over to big coin because it was our only option at the time to play. It’s still the same here in America but at least we have bitcoin sites!

[eternalgloom]

I thought those losses was also including losses in bitcoin based casino, I think that figure might go upto $30 billion if losses in crypto casinos will be included.

Bitcoin is quite popular in australia and many are using it in daily life so they might also be using it to gamble without exposing themselves.

You can be pretty sure that the number is indeed on the low side if they didn't include any crypto casino's, but I guess it's kinda difficult to get accurate stats on that.
I would also think that there are quite a few high rollers who use Bitcoin casino's just because it's so easy and semi anonymous to transfer large sums.

I also wonder how these numbers compare to other parts of the world...

[kryptqnick]

Well that amount is no small pocket change especially if it is only for Australia. I honestly thought only the USA and Asian countries was the gambling type. Now if this losses are true i am sure the government would still get some kind of tax that they can use for like schools and so forth  like they do in the USA.

That's a huge amount indeed! That's interesting. Why are they like this? The main amount of money is lost on pokies. Yet there's even an article in Wikipedia about Australian gambling. It is said there that 80%+ adult people are engaged in some form of gambling there. And in the main gambling state (it is also the state in which the biggest amount of people live) New South Wales has 95,800 pokies!
Maybe the government doesn't forbid gambling there, because the taxes are collected from it and I guess it's a solid amount of money. I think they should not be forbidden, but should be put in some specific gambling cities, not be available throughout the country.

[Siopao]

People can really get hooked a d addicted to gambling. Im sure Australian government will do their part to get the tax out of it. Gambling sites that uses bitcoin have a  large market to cater in Australia, if bitcoin is included in the report it would be bigger than that.

[Lionidas]

How do they get these numbers from?
These are from only land based casinos and not including other forms of gambling such as the little old ladies at the bingo hall and the bitcoin gambling community.
Include those numbers and that assessment of the total amount lost to gambling might be about 20-30% more.

[MinerHQ]

How do they get these numbers from?
These are from only land based casinos and not including other forms of gambling such as the little old ladies at the bingo hall and the bitcoin gambling community.
Include those numbers and that assessment of the total amount lost to gambling might be about 20-30% more.

Mostly these numbers are only from legally registered gambling sites whether it may be land-based casinos or online but they should be registered and paid taxes for all those transactions. So there should be many other casinos illegally running and total amount should be even more than what this newspaper published.

[Paecga129]

Really? I would have said this was complete "bollocks" if you had told me this on the street. $24,000,000,000 seems like a tons of money for just Australia alone.

[Kaller]

This is understandable since when you multiply the population of Australia it doesn't amount to that much per household despite that number being so high.

[mOgliE]

WHAT THE FUUUUUUUCK?

Oh maaaaan!
I was sad about what I lost (about 0.1BTC) and thought it was much but... hell!
That's impossible Oo

You just can't lose so much... Not on gambling...

[bbc.reporter]

@m0gliE. There are some people who have gambling addiction and it is the same sickness, if you can call it that, as alcohol addiction or drug addiction.

I have seen some broke people beg for some money on parking lots outside a real casino, and they always say that they will pay you back after they win. Pitiful. They need help.

[noormcs5]

How do they get these numbers from?
These are from only land based casinos and not including other forms of gambling such as the little old ladies at the bingo hall and the bitcoin gambling community.
Include those numbers and that assessment of the total amount lost to gambling might be about 20-30% more.

Exactly i think these numbers are just a rough estimate of people losing in gambling in Australia. But thats the one side of the story. There are people wining from gambling too and the profit earned by the gamblers should be shared online too so that we can compare the both Win and loses percentages and amount.
Just imagine 24 Billion dollar lost in Gambling makes gambling  a real million dollar business worldwide.