A new study from market research firm Roy Morgan has revealed a slight decrease in the number of adult Australian to have gambled in an average three-month period in the 12 months to March 2018, down to 49.1% from 50.6% a year earlier.
According to researchers, the findings continue a gradually decreasing trend in the gambling industry in Australia across all categories and comes “despite the growing proliferation of gambling options, such as online and mobile betting.”
Roy Morgan’s study was built from surveys of more than 50,000 consumers including in-depth questioning in their own homes of over 7,000 people who gambled.
It found that 3.1 million Australians engaged in some level of casino-style gaming, including casino games or poker, while 1.9 million placed bets – presumably on sports or racing. 7.8 million people play lottery or scratch cards but only 568,000 Australians take part in all three form of gambling.
Roy Morgan also revealed that the growth of mobile betting has seen a surge in people placing bets online, however the number of people using computers to bet remains unchanged.
“Gambling is now an activity which nearly half of all Australians participate in within a 3-month period, but this statistic alone does not do justice to the varying behaviors of those millions of gamblers. They vary from casual scratchie buyers to work friends betting on their footy team to wealthy businessmen at poker tables,” said Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine.
“Analysis of deep consumer data is needed to get a clear picture of Australia’s gamblers and that picture looks to challenge some of the current understandings of the industry. Gambling in special contexts, such as casino or online betting, need to be examined as part of a broader context.
“For instance, looking at the upward trend in online sports betting, this powerful growth is driven by mobile phone betting replacing traditional bookies for convenience, accessibility and breadth. Punters are now able to gamble on the AFL, NFL, Premier League, NBA, and more all at the same time, place, and at the best odds available to them.
“Of the 3.4 million people who place at least one bet each year, 34.1% of them bet online, which is notably higher than other online gambling categories, such as online poker (6.2%) and online casino games (13.2%).”
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