Pandemic ‘pushed pokie players online’

While Australians are losing less on poker machines (slots), according to recent data, there is also evidence that they are taking to online gambling instead, says the country’s ABC News.

For the first time, losses on gambling machines fell during the pandemic, to A$11.4bn (€7.5bn) in 2021, shrinking by A$1.1bn (€727m) or 17 per cent compared with 2019 (data from the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine).

During the same period, however, H2Gambling Capital, the industry consultancy, said losses in online sports betting grew by A$3.2bn (€2.1bn) or 80 per cent to A$7.1bn (€4.6bn).

Australia overtook the UK in online sports betting losses, even though the UK has three times Australia’s population, third only to the US and Japan.

“Online operators have been competing for the business of customers who would have been betting in land-based facilities,” said H2 senior consultant Ed Birkin.

The new federal government in Australia has pledged a parliamentary inquiry into online gambling.