According to researchers from the Centre for Gambling Research at the Australian National University (ANU), the at-risk gambling rate in Australia currently stands at 13.6%, which marks a 2% increase from last year’s data (11.6%). These percentage figures, along with other pieces of crucial insight into the gambling habits of Australians, are among the various findings in the team’s study. The said report encompasses data gathered over the course of five years.
Overall Gambling Participation has Decreased
As described by the study’s lead author, Dr Aino Suomi, in a publication on ANU Reporter, gambling as a whole has seen a slight decrease in comparison to 12 months prior. In total, 60.3% of the individuals who participated in the centre’s survey confirmed that they had wagered in the past 12 months. In contrast, last year’s gambling rate stood at 61.3%.
Dr Suomi did stress, however, that at-risk gambling went from 11.6% to 13.6%. “This means a larger portion of individuals who gamble are experiencing harm,” she continued. She also noted participation is higher than the 53.5% gambling rate recorded in 2021 (contrasting 2019’s 65.5%), and she attributed 2021’s data to gambling establishments being inaccessible.
Additionally, the research team found indicators that Australians tend to favour online gambling and sports betting operators nowadays, as opposed to brick-and-mortar venues. This is cause for concern, according to Dr Suomi, who explained how “unlimited access to online gambling” is something that can be very harmful should measures not be taken to minimise potential gambling issues.
As for what types of gambling products survey respondents gravitated towards the most, lottery participation was the most popular form of gambling, with nearly 47% of the Australian adults who took part in ANU’s survey telling researchers they had bought lottery tickets recently. Raffle tickets, scratchcards, poker machines, and race betting were the other forms of gambling mentioned.
Affected Others Account for 5.3% of Australia’s Adult Population
The data from the research was also utilised in a different report, which was focused on the harm experienced by affected others, i.e., close family and friends of problem gamblers who were negatively affected by their close one’s gambling problems. As shown in the data, around 1.2 million adults in Australia were impacted by the gambling of another person in the past 12 months. This translates to a rate of 5.3%.
While data has shown that those most vulnerable to problem gambling were older age groups (along with men and those lacking higher education), Dr Suomi noted that survey participants who were designated as affected others were typically between 18 and 24 years old. Such individuals typically suffered from issues related to their own gambling problems, earned a lower income, and were suffering from psychological trauma and loneliness.
This type of data serves as one of the reasons gambling reform advocates in Australia have been pushing for the government to introduce further measures to curb gambling harm, including a blanket ban on gambling advertisements that was among the 31 proposals outlined in the “You win some, you lose more” report published by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy in 2023. The government has yet to proceed with implementing the proposals, however, due to concerns regarding how an ad ban would affect the Australian sports sector as well as broadcasters.
- Author
Daniel Williams
