Gambling is huge in Australia, it is done by the young and the old, the ladies and the men, as long as you are 18 years and above you probably have placed a bet in recent time. The effects of gambling are being felt far beyond the loss of money. It is affecting families, including children and the elderly. Property is being lost. Jobs ruined and more problematic gamblers even risk harm to themselves.
A recent survey states that more than 500,000 adults in the country wagered on sports. This is in 2015. Their ages were between eighteen and forty-nine. And on average spent at least a thousand dollars each annually on betting.
The Australian Department of Social Services started a project (Hilda-Household, income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia) to research behaviors of the Australian betting population and how much they spend gambling per capita.
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The country has hundreds of options online, making betting as smooth and accessible as ever. There are more than 20 betting websites online. These sites offer Sports betting, horse racing, dog racing, online casinos, lotteries, scratch tickets, and electronic gaming machines, which are also known as ‘pokies.’ Men were the most involved in sports betting, representing 8% of Regular gamblers. The players spent an estimated 1032 dollars each, which in total was $579 million for that year.
The demographics of Regular batteries in Australia were mostly men who were mid-aged and had a job that paid an above-average salary. Most of the guys that were involved were also without spouses or partners.
The report also found out that most gamblers were born in Australia. Statistics show that money above $250 billion in a given year. They will lose close to $25 billion since you can’t win every time. This data was collected from close to 20 million Australians who were of legal age.
The authority on gambling statistics in Australia AGS. Australian Gambling Statistics broke down how much was spent on some o the betting options found in Australia as shown below ;
- Twenty-five billion spent on races ($1400 per capita)
- 181 billion bettings were done on electronic gaming machines($9,500 per capita)
- $12b sports option. (603l dollars per capita)
On average, an Australian Gambler will lose 1200 dollars annually on wagers. The data from the statistics is just an average, which means that they are gamblers who lose much much more thousands to gambling. Most of these fans would have been used in more constructive uses like family, school fees, rent, loan repayments, and daily use for groceries.
Gambling harm is the result that comes about when gamblers make poor decisions that affect their relationships. The risk faced by bettors is way more than the benefits they get. Many players have even committed suicide due to the breaking up of families, loss of property, and also ill mental health.
The bad thing is that up to six people related to The Gambler will also suffer the effects of lousy gambling habits. A study done by the Victorian problem gambling Foundation showed that Australia suffered more than six billion dollars in costs.
- Family problems faced a cost of more than $2b.
- Mental ill-health costs the gamblers more than a billion and a half dollars.
- Finances lost were up to one billion dollars.
- Professional support and systems took one billion dollars.
- Crime costs the state of Victoria up to 100 million dollars.
From the statistics, you considered gambling has severe adverse effects. It is addictive and causes less productivity in the workplace. It breaks up families causing emotional breakdowns—all these Factors sum up to undesirable social consequences.
Compared to other countries, Australia has the highest losses per capita ($900). The H2 Gambling Capital, through a survey, ranked Hong Kong as the second, Singapore as the third, Finland as the fourth and New Zealand as the fifth in per capita losses. Australia has a culture of betting owing to the ease of access to the content through TV and sports.
Most of Australia’s gambling is done on electronic gambling machines, also known as pokies, which are more than 200 thousand units and found everywhere. This is due to Australian Laws which allow the machines everywhere, not just casinos. They are addictive due to their low bet rates, which entice people with stress promising good returns and relieving stress.
The advertising sector also plays a massive role in enticing people to join the gambling sensation. You can bet on anything, even TV shows like the winner of “The Bachelor.” Australia has help services to people who want to turn their lousy betting habits around and turn over a new leaf through several helplines manned by professional counselors.
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