A recent report in The Economist has revealed some shocking information about gambling spending in Australia and New Zealand. According to the report, local residents are some of the biggest spenders in the international gambling market. The report found that Australians spend the most money on gambling individually, as each adult resident spends more than $1000 on gambling.
They are the biggest spenders on poker machines, pumping over $450 on average into the games. New Zealand residents were not far behind, as its residents spend just over $500 with $100 being spent on pokies. Falling between New Zealand and Australia are Singapore and Finland. In Singapore, players spend most of their money and land-based casinos whereas Finnish players prefer interactive gambling.
When taking into account gambling losses by country, Australia falls further down the list with the sixth worst gambling losses. On the whole, Australians lose $18.4 billion per year, falling far behind the United States which experiences gambling losses worth $119 billion annually. China, Japan, Britain and Italy round out the Top 5.
While Australians have yet to respond the findings, Kiwis are outraged. New Zealand’s Labour party has considered this a sign that tighter restrictions must be employed in order to prevent gambling losses from growing in the future. Trevor Mallard, spokesperson for the Department of Internal Affairs, has also responded, stating that the SkyCity convention centre deal will only exacerbate the issue.
"It's a disgrace that New Zealand is number four in the world for gambling, according to the analysis in The Economist," he says. "We need tighter rules and greater controls on pokies." The report shows that there certainly is room for improvement with regards to poker machine laws and safe gambling measures in the Australasian gambling market. It is hoped that local politicians will heed this warning.
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