Why Do Australians Gamble So Much?

Erik Devaney
ThinkGrowth.org
Published in
7 min readNov 28, 2015

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Is it a cherished cultural tradition, or an addiction?

A symbol of a country’s rebellious spirit, or the product of an industry’s insidious marketing strategy?

Or is it all of those things?

To borrow from the Land Down Under’s favorite son … Jerry Seinfeld:

What’s the deal with gambling in Australia?

According to the Australasian Gaming Council’s 2014/2015 gambling industries report, the average Australian adult drops $1,172.14 (AUD) on gambling per year, making Australia the gambling capital of the world.

To put that in perspective, Ireland has the third-highest rate of gambling in the world, but Irish people only spend around $600 each on gambling per year. Americans? About $400 each. (Note: the Ireland/U.S. figures are from 2010, back when the average Australian was spending nearly $1,300 on gambling per year.)

The biggest draw for Australians who are looking to test their luck? Electronic gaming machines (EGMs), which is industry-speak for video poker machines, better known as “pokies” in Australia.

To quote an Australian online gambling website:

“ … pokies are slot machines that contain a series of spinning reels or a selection of poker hands. Offering huge payouts for a small investment, these games generate a huge amount of revenue for the Australian gambling industry.”

Of the $21+ billion (AUD) Australians spent on gambling in 2014, more than half — $11 billion — went to pokies.

Think Vegas has a lot of video poker machines? Australia has more. It has more than the entire United States. In fact, despite having only the 52nd largest population, Australia has more “pokies” than any other country. The majority of them aren’t even in casinos, but in hotels and registered pokie clubs.

That’s not to say that Australia is lacking in the casino department. Casinos are the second-most popular source of gambling for Australians, claiming $4 billion+ (AUD) each year.

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Full-time stay-at-home dad, part-time ghostwriter, retired pub musician, recovering marketer