According to a new study, the average Australian adult bets ,600 per year and loses more to gambling than his counterpart in any other industrialized nation. The British firm H2 Gambling Capital says Aussies lead the pack ahead of gamblers in Singapore, who bet ,472 per year, the United States, where the average adult bets about 0, and Finland, where people bet an average of 7 per year. According to the New Daily, Australia has been at the top of the list since the late 1990s, primarily due to poker machines, which account for 52.4 percent of the total gambling spend and between 75 percent and 80 percent of all problem gambling, the Productivity Commission says.
“We have one of the highest per capita rates of gaming machines and also have machines which can take a lot of money much more quickly than is the case for overseas models,” University of Adelaide’s Professor Paul Delfabbro told the Daily. “There will be an increasing temptation to add more machines as budget deficits continue to grow.”
