New data from ANU has provided an updated profile of who is gambling in Australia, and how. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, gambling participation has declined slightly. However, high-risk gambling has likely returned to pre-pandemic levels, and more Australians are staking their money online.
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Based on Gambling participation in Australia 2024: Trends over time, and profiles associated with online gambling, published July 2024 alongside a separate paper Gambling harm from someone else’s gambling – Affected others in Australian population 2024. You can read another policy brief based on that accompanying report here.
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Gambling participation has decreased in Australia in recent years, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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However, rates of high-risk gambling – people staking money they can’t afford to lose – have been more persistent, according to the latest ANU evidence.
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Since the pandemic, more are turning to online gambling instead of gambling in venues.
Before the pandemic, nearly two thirds of Australian adults had gambled in the previous year.
Since then, this number has fallen slightly. But according to new findings from the ANU Centre for Gambling Research, small overall changes are masking larger shifts beneath the surface.
Since the pandemic, online gambling rates have exponentially increased, with the evidence showing they should now be considered one of the main gambling platforms.
Those who gamble online were more likely to be male, aged between 35 and 55, employed full-time, in a couple household with children, and to have a higher income.
In contrast, those who still gamble primarily in venues were more likely to be female, 65 and older, not have finished Year 12, be out of the labour force, and have a lower income.
Additionally, while younger people were less likely to gamble than the older cohorts overall, when they gambled, it was much more likely to occur online than in venues.
Online gambling is more accessible, and so may also bring gambling into the home. Higher rates of online gambling reported by individuals living in households with children reflected this.
Researchers also measured gamblers’ psychological distress. This was specifically associated with in-venue gambling, though individuals gambling online reported feeling loneliness in the past week at a higher rate than those gambling in venues.
The evidence showed that without a dedicated, evidence-based public health strategy, including industry regulation, access to online gambling has the potential to cause serious harm.
“Since the pandemic, online gambling rates have exponentially increased, with the evidence showing they should now be considered one of the main gambling platforms.”
