Online Gambling Doubled In Australia

Last updated on February 9th, 2024

Interactive Gamblers On The Rise

The second National Study of Interactive Gambling, conducted by Gambling Research Australia, shows that online gambling users have doubled in the past 8 years. More specifically, the second study covers the period between 2019 and 2020 and is compared with the first one released in 2014. And the numbers reveal that men between the age of 20-49 consist the majority of the country’s 17.5% online gambling players.

This study is a product of the joint cooperation of Central Queensland University researchers, Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments. Moreover, it was released by Australia’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. In order to present a thorough report, the researchers used a list of different methods and sources. This includes an online survey, national telephone survey, literature review, interviews, longitudinal cohort study, environmental scan and data provided by various gambling assist sites and services.

According to the study, a total of 15.000 Australian citizens were contacted by phone, while 5.019 were part of online surveys. Moreover, by taking into account the data of the telephone survey, the researchers concluded that there is a 9.4% increase in online gambling. That is in comparison with the 8.1% in 2010.

However, overall gambling activity in Australia dropped from 64.3% in 2010, down to 56.9% in 2019. What is even more concerning, is the fact that a high 41.7% of those who perform online gambling, do so at unauthorized operators. Furthermore, the study also shows an increase in harmful gambling behaviour by the users in the past 10 years. In fact, it went from 0.6% of the citizens in 2010, up to 1.23% in 2019. While the study shows that online gamblers are more prone to harmful gambling risks, it turns out half of the users confirm land-based gambling to be the biggest problem.

What Does The Numbers Say

According to the study, there are several games that are clear favourites among interactive gamblers in Australia. And the results are quite surprising. Consequently, meaning that Australian online casinos are also on the rise.

• Instant Scratch Tickets – 26.3%
• EGMs – 15.8%
• Casino Games – 15.7%
• Poker – 15%
• Bingo – 13.9%
• Sking Gambling – Virtual Goods – 9%

On the other hand, the national telephone survey reveals drastically lower numbers when it comes to legal online betting.

• Lotteries 10.1%
• Race Betting 5.9%
• Sports Betting 5.8%

Despite researches using reliable data and efficient methods, there were still some discrepancies. For example, the low response numbers, contacting strictly mobile phone numbers, oversampling, a small number of interviewers and a small number of in-person interactions are among the biggest issues. However, at least the study provides some kind of insight into the current situation.

Consequently, clearly showing that online gambling numbers have doubled in Australia. And, the most likely reason for that being definitely the Covid-19 pandemic.