Countries that gamble the most

[Davidvictorson]

So we have a country for almost each region: north america, asia and australia. Did any of the countries in the list surprise you? Is there a particular country you want to visit purposefully just to gamble? Whole list can be seen here.

I am not surprised by the list. I want to see it drilled down to continents. I am curious about Africa. That is, which country in Africa gambles the most. Lately there has been the increase in gambling advert all over the continent of Africa. And these gambling companies cannot be thriving and expanding even to marginalized communities if they are not making money. By making money I mean, at the loss of their customers. I will say roughly that Kenya will be the top on the list followed by Nigeria, the Ghana, Maybe South-Africa.

[Su-asa]

I am not surprised to see those countries in the list of top country that has the most gamblers. I think as this countries begin to advance they also improve in everything, both in technology and in gamble. However, in this case those countries which you mentioned are doing find more than some of those countries which prohibit gamble. However I don't see any bad in gamble, it is just based on the gambler if he can be able to control himself or not and I actually think that the government in those countries know how to deal with an addict gambler.

[alastantiger]

United States are known for gambling, the highest amount of losses comes from the US and it keeps on increasing on a daily basis. Everyone knows that Las Vegas is the center of every gambling activity. This country has more addicts, and I will it's this way because of how easy it is to get money there. Even though people struggle it's not like a third world country that I live where getting a job is a problem.

United States is at the top of your list because they're the most televised country and being known that they're gambling. America is also a free world country that everybody can do anything they like without being criticized unlike other countries because there are some countries that people can't come out openly that they're gamblers but we have many gamblers in the country. I didn't think America gamble more, what I thought was that, it's going to be one country in Asia or Africa that gambles the more and it's includes all types of gambling in general and not only online casinos. There are some countries that have a big audience for gambling in their local league but this isn't being put into consideration to marking this list.

[Cantsay]

Well, I’m not surprised I have always knew that those in US gamble huge amount of money - I first got this idea when I started watching live streams of gamblers and discovered that so many of them who were based in the US are always high rollers; I thought maybe it was because of the difference of my local currency and the dollar value that made the difference that huge to me.

Assuming my countries currency’s value wasn’t too low when compared with the dollar value I’m sure my country would have made it to that list.

[r_victory]

I was surprised that China was included in this list. As far as I know, the only regions where this type of activity is allowed are Hong Kong, which allows betting on horse racing, football and lotteries, all regulated, and Macau, which has its own legal system and autonomy from mainland China. Other than that, only state-run lotteries and some government-authorized sports betting are allowed. The Chinese government does not consider lotteries to be gambling, but rather a means of raising funds for social causes.

”China considers any online gambling operation that targets or serves Chinese consumers – regardless of whether it is located inside or outside China – to be offering an illegal service. Those who use such services or help others to do so are also subject to criminal penalties.”

Source: https://bnldata.com.br/china-reafirma-postura-de-repressao-a-crimes-de-jogos-online/

But as I have observed many times, what is forbidden attracts even more attention, many are driven by the adrenaline and dopamine resulting from what is forbidden.

Note: I know they access via VPN, many of the sites accessed are foreign (operating illegally under Chinese laws), accessed via alternative links, I know all of this, and I am not taking it into account.

[2Pizza410000BTC]

So we have a country for almost each region: north america, asia and australia. Did any of the countries in the list surprise you? Is there a particular country you want to visit purposefully just to gamble? Whole list can be seen here.

Every country gambles more or less and participates in gambling. However, these countries being at the top of the gambling list did not surprise me at all because people gamble for entertainment or to earn money. In fact, I can participate in gambling from my country. Since I have seen offline gambling houses in my country and from there I have returned to online gambling, now I do not have to go to any other country to gamble, I can enjoy gambling and play from my country. However, I could not find the list of my Bangladesh, maybe my Bangladesh is far below in all these lists.

[Fiatless]

So we have a country for almost each region: north america, asia and australia. Did any of the countries in the list surprise you?

These nations have flourishing economies where citizens are well paid, so I am not surprised. People who would gamble are those who have enough to spare. In developing nations people will not gamble much since they are more focused on survival through their meagre earnings.

Is there a particular country you want to visit purposefully just to gamble? Whole list can be seen here.

In movies, Las Vegas in the US is always portrayed as the headquarters of the world. Macau is another country is developing it's physical gambling capabilities.

Visiting a country just to gamble is not ideal. I don't have such money to spend. Maybe I can visit casinos in these two locations if I visit there for other purposes like business or for holidays.

[Orpichukwu]

So we have a country for almost each region: north america, asia and australia. Did any of the countries in the list surprise you? Is there a particular country you want to visit purposefully just to gamble? Whole list can be seen here.

I'm not surprised by any control on that list, as they are doing what they love best. One thing that this list just makes me reconfirm is what I have always said and been against in terms of argument: the reason why theirs rise in gambling in some controls, which many say is a result of poverty, is that most of the top 10 controls on that list are doing well economically, and the majority of the gamblers are not poor to be able the amount they do.

[rodskee]

I was surprised that China was included in this list. As far as I know, the only regions where this type of activity is allowed are Hong Kong, which allows betting on horse racing, football and lotteries, all regulated, and Macau, which has its own legal system and autonomy from mainland China. Other than that, only state-run lotteries and some government-authorized sports betting are allowed. The Chinese government does not consider lotteries to be gambling, but rather a means of raising funds for social causes.

is it possible that it is because of how big a population china has? obviously the more people there are the higher number there could be of gamblers and this could be a factor to why china got to this list

well anyway it can also just mean that there are heavy gamblers in the region and does not necessarily mean that they have the most casinos in the world

[batang_bitcoin]

I got curious what region of the world is the most popular for gambling and I came across a ranking of countries based on their total gambling gross loss. The Top 5 are as follows: 1) United States, 2) China, 3) Japan, 4) Italy, and 5) Australia. As I expected US is the first when it comes to gambling. Around 26% of US adults placed bets on the Superbowl in 2024, totaling around 23.1 billion dollars in wagers. This amount rose by approximately $7 billion compared to the previous year. Their total loss annually comes up to $116.9 billion. I am not surprised as well that China and Japan followed but what surprised me is Italy and Australia. Traditional gambling activities like Baccarat and Fibonacci also originate from Italy. Venice and Milan are two of the country’s largest gambling hubs, featuring over 15 casinos. But Italy did not strike me as a country where people specifically visit to gamble in.

So we have a country for almost each region: north america, asia and australia. Did any of the countries in the list surprise you? Is there a particular country you want to visit purposefully just to gamble? Whole list can be seen here.

With Italy, I didn't know that gambling is rampant there and with this stats they are on the 4th place. While the rest in the top 5, I am not surprised. And as for Japan, I think it has been a big center for entertainment for the japanese people when they gamble. It's not being advertised as gambling but entertainment and it's very legal there. I've watched videos that people stay in the gambling centers during the opening and up until the closing time but they don't label them as gambling addicts.

[SATWAT]

Well, nothing is so surprising about the USA leading gambling in every category. As we can all see, sportsbook, odds, spreads, and other sports betting related terms are what the sports casters talks about every single game. Even the commercials, casinos are always present. They are even a huge sponsors in mini games happening during timeouts and halftime.
However, I was expecting some countries in Europe would dominate the top 5. Looks like they're the kind of luxurious gamblers or maybe I'm just stereotyping here lol.

USA is surely one of the biggest market in many things so if they are also ruling in gambling it's not surprised, but few other countries are surprising even they are doing strict policies for controlling, but it's not helping, and their turnover is increasing.
Many countries those are had ban on this also have the good number of gamblers which are giving their contribution, but It's not officially so no one can give how much is going to online sites through them because I personally feel figures could be surprising because numbers are surely too much which are shown in above post.
India is also one of the country where things are going on new levels but due to policies nothing is officially same happening about few other countries those are fighting hard to stop this, but It's still having his share in their market.

[Leahized]

So we have a country for almost each region: north america, asia and australia. Did any of the countries in the list surprise you? Is there a particular country you want to visit purposefully just to gamble? Whole list can be seen here.

I'm not surprised by any control on that list, as they are doing what they love best. One thing that this list just makes me reconfirm is what I have always said and been against in terms of argument: the reason why theirs rise in gambling in some controls, which many say is a result of poverty, is that most of the top 10 controls on that list are doing well economically, and the majority of the gamblers are not poor to be able the amount they do.

I agree with you, one of the reasons for gambling is to make more money for very short time. I was not surprised to see this rankings. People in the state that are more developed are accustomed to gamble in various platform. However, there may be many reasons for this, but as you say, gambling or betting can be one of the reasons for poverty. Although I do not have a state on this list. However, I think the people of my country are betting on the gambling platform or the platform because of greater profit. However, most people face the loss. This is how the rate of loss increases day by day. But I think these rank will always change. As shown currently.
1. United States
2. China
3. Japan

[jackpotmaster]

I am surprised at these results, but also I am not. You must understand first how data is gathered and how to interpret it before you can say anything about the results. The author of this thread should have posted the source of the information to make this easier. I found it.

https://www.worldatlas.com/society/countries-that-gamble-the-most.html

The article does not mention the sample size or how they gathered, and neither does it show a link to the data. Because of this, you can discard these results completely. What probably happened is that the methodology is weak and the sample size is terrible. Further, there is a big difference in results depending on whether you survey people online or in person. In some countries most gambling is done online, and in others it is the complete opposite and it is done in person.

[GreatArkansas]

I was surprised that Japan is on the list. Especially considering how tightly regulated gambling is. 
So for me, it's kinda gambling culture doesn't always look the same everywhere, especially in some countries that have famous cities thatare  really into gambling like Vegas or Macau.

[Julien_Olynpic]

I was not surprised to see the US and China at the top of this list. But I was more surprised to see Italy, Australia, and Japan on the list. However, I would like to clarify the method for calculating these losses. Are they based on absolute numbers, or are they recalculated per 100,000 population (or some other similar figure)? If they are simply absolute numbers, they can be misleading and give rise to all sorts of cognitive biases. For example, there is such a cognitive bias. There is a known false correlation between the number of churches in a city and the amount of crime in it. This bias is based on the fact that the crime rate (as well as the number of religious buildings) in a city depends on the number of inhabitants in it. The larger the population, the more crime and churches. Therefore, the number of losses should be calculated per standard number of inhabitants.

[Apocollapse]

It doesn't matter how many gamble, what matters is how much they gamble.
And with the US gamling industry being nearly $250 billion, that's close to the entire GDP of Nigeria, basically everyone there would need to gamble it's entire wage to come close to those numbers. Nigeria barely has 3 billion in the gambling industry,  it's peanuts compared to the big guys.

Yeah this is the answer for people who wondering why their countries aren't included on the list.

Just check the website posted by @OP, they rank the countries who gamble the most based on the losses instead of the numbers gambler/population ratio.

I was surprised that Japan is on the list. Especially considering how tightly regulated gambling is. 
So for me, it's kinda gambling culture doesn't always look the same everywhere, especially in some countries that have famous cities thatare  really into gambling like Vegas or Macau.

It's true Japan is really tight, but gambling is popular on there. What they play is Pachinko, something like pinball arcade games.

I think the reason why many Japanese gamble because if they work under senior who're gambler, they're forced to gamble too in order to respect their seniors.

[viljy]

I got curious what region of the world is the most popular for gambling and I came across a ranking of countries based on their total gambling gross loss. The Top 5 are as follows: 1) United States, 2) China, 3) Japan, 4) Italy, and 5) Australia. As I expected US is the first when it comes to gambling. Around 26% of US adults placed bets on the Superbowl in 2024, totaling around 23.1 billion dollars in wagers. This amount rose by approximately $7 billion compared to the previous year. Their total loss annually comes up to $116.9 billion. I am not surprised as well that China and Japan followed but what surprised me is Italy and Australia. Traditional gambling activities like Baccarat and Fibonacci also originate from Italy. Venice and Milan are two of the country’s largest gambling hubs, featuring over 15 casinos. But Italy did not strike me as a country where people specifically visit to gamble in.

So we have a country for almost each region: north america, asia and australia. Did any of the countries in the list surprise you? Is there a particular country you want to visit purposefully just to gamble? Whole list can be seen here.

Well, the fact that the United States occupies the first place is not surprising. However, as well as the fact that China took the second place. First of all, the large number of people in these countries allows them to occupy high places. Also, in both countries there are special cities for gambling (Las Vegas and Macau), where, in addition to the indigenous people of the countries, tourists come purposefully to gamble. Well, these "quantitative" factors explain this rating. Although at first glance, you might think that there are some particularly gambling people living in these countries. Actually, no, people everywhere are equally very gambling.

[Ishicryptic]

Good compilation of countries with the highest numbers of gamblers. I am not surprised to see US leading the group though, they have the highest and largest casino in major cities. Even tourist travel to come have a fun time in their casinos. Nevertheless I was surprised no African country was mentioned there. I may not know in other African countries but you see in Nigeria we have lots of gamblers. No joke, the numbers are increasing every single day both in online casinos and in local betting shop.

Not surprised either that the US will top the list of countries that gambles the most, you cannot conclude about gambling popularity without mentioning a city like Las Vegas. I don't know much about other African countries but Nigerians are very huge on gambling, we have a large population of gamblers in the country, but it's mostly on sports bet. Physical casino are not too popular in the country I guess that could be the reason why the country is not among the top but online gambling is very popular here.

[Mia Chloe]

United States are known for gambling, the highest amount of losses comes from the US and it keeps on increasing on a daily basis. Everyone knows that Las Vegas is the center of every gambling activity. This country has more addicts, and I will it's this way because of how easy it is to get money there. Even though people struggle it's not like a third world country that I live where getting a job is a problem.

The fact is USD has a pretty decent value in the currency market and as a result of the fact that it's the base currency in the US, their volume will definitely turn out as one of the largest. Come to think of it , statistics like this are not drawn based on head count or something related rather it's mostly based on total volume.
Aside from that the frequency of gambling in a country also depends on the intensity of the labour sector of that country. It isn't a directly dependent factor but it also contributes indirectly too.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Is am surprised that Nigeria is not among but I know Nigerians are really gambling. I changed it from gambling to online gambling and I saw Nigeria to be among. You can check it here:

https://en.tempo.co/read/1881215/11-countries-with-most-online-gambling-players-in-the-world-including-canada
https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/10-countries-with-the-highest-internet-gambling-population/sm1zm72

I think the betting shops are still going to be regarded as part of it.

Likewise me I was was even expecting Nigeria to be among the top three but not seeing them here means that we are still learning or the small gambling shops are not included as you clearly mentioned. I don't know how authentic the list is but seeing Australia in the list again makes me wonder, I never knew that the country also gamble that much.

Nigeria is supposed to be among the top gambling country globally because I saw an article early this year that states that the the Nigeria online gambling market is estimate at €675.1m in grass gambling revenue this year. Secondly, I learned that Nigeria ranked the third country in Africa gambling market, while South Africa and Kenya rank 1 and 2, and from the OP's data, those country are not even added. Some of those data online are not completely accurate, that's what I observe.