New figures published by the economic advisory company AlphaBeta and the illion credit bureau indicate a surge in the amounts Australian residents spend on gambling, alcohol beverages, and food deliveries, despite the worsening recession and increasing unemployment rates.
According to the report, the amounts Aussies spend on virtual gambling were around 94% above the average in the week to August 23rd, 2020. Meanwhile, the spending on tobacco and alcoholic beverages has jumped by 22% whereas food delivery expenditures have risen by 277% for the same period.
A spokesperson of the economic advisory firm told local media that the increase could be attributed to the lockdown restrictions that hinder residents from shopping and visiting restaurants to dine. According to AlphaBeta’s representative, the dramatic increase in online gambling is most likely due to the availability of mobile betting applications like the one provided by Sportsbet.
The option to purchase lottery tickets over the Internet has also contributed to the surge in online gambling spending. Online betting products have largely done away with the necessity to go outside and gamble in landbased venues, the spokesperson commented.
Australia Sees a Shift from Landbased to Online Gambling
There has been a shift in gambling habits recently, with an increasing number of Aussies preferring to spend their money on online gambling sites rather than playing landbased pokies. The AlphaBeta spokesperson also explained that this does not necessarily mean there is a surge in local gambling rates. It appears so because the cash spendings on landbased pokies cannot be as easily tracked, which is not the case when real-money betting occurs over the Internet.
Similar tendencies can be observed with the sales of takeaway alcohol, which have also increased as opposed to the declining restaurant spendings. The figures are somewhat surprising, considering the huge surge in unemployment the country has seen recently. The local economy took a hit during the nationwide lockdown which commenced in March.
Millions of job positions were lost, with over 700,000 Australian residents being forced to apply for unemployment benefits. Approximately 1.35 million Aussies have also requested access to $10,000 of their superannuation funds at the beginning of July as a means of recovering their income losses.
Meanwhile, some Aussies have decided to channel their keenness on gambling toward more productive and potentially lucrative paths. Some streamers of the country are attracting the attention of large audiences to their channels on YouTube and Twitch where they broadcast themselves playing casino games for real money.
Figures published by Twitch Metrics that tracks stream viewership and activity suggest the popularity of gambling-related video streams has also jumped during the coronavirus pandemic. According to Twitch Metrics’ data, the pokies category on the Twitch platform ranks in 19th place in terms of popularity, attracting nearly 17,000 viewers for the month of August alone.
- Author
Daniel Williams
