A survey conducted by Roy Morgan shows a significant drop in the number of Australians who gamble. According to the report cited in Asia Gaming Brief, 9.3 million Aussie adults consider themselves gamblers. That’s 47.9 percent of the population compared with almost two-thirds of adults a decade ago.
The survey began in 2002, included interviews with more than 50,000 people and studied the gaming habits of 7,000 players. At the end of 2017, 50.1 percent of Australians reported gambling over an average of three months, suggesting the decline is continuing, AGB reported.
This year’s survey found a decline in all types of gaming, though the biggest drop was for lottery and scratch tickets, the most popular gaming category. The participation rate declined 16.3 percentage points to 40.1 percent. Those playing pokies dropped by 11. 9 percentage points to 13.7 percent, followed by sports betting, down 5.9 points to 9.4 percent.
Younger Australians were the least inclined to gamble, with participation in the 18 to 24-year age group at just 25.7 percent, followed by the 25 to 34 segment at 37.5 percent. The highest participation is for those aged 50 to 64 with 61.0 percent and those 65 and over with 57.8 percent.
“The fact that less Australians of all ages are gambling in a market with an increasing number of gambling options is likely to be as a result of it falling out of favor as it competes with a proliferation of other entertainment and leisure activities. Increasing warnings and publicity given to potential gambling problems may also discourage participation,” said Roy Morgan, director of industry communications for Norman Morris.
“It is interesting to note that with the ease of betting on a phone due to the rapid growth of betting apps, that over a quarter (27.4 percent) of people who have a bet now do so on a mobile phone, compared to only 5.3 percent six years ago. Although the use of this new technology to place a bet would be expected to attract more young people to bet, this research shows that this is not the case as they have had the biggest declines.”
