Latest Reports Showing Growth of Online Gambling in Australia
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Last Updated: May 18, 2022
Latest Reports Showing Growth of Online Gambling in Australia
A new report shows that online gambling in Australia is gaining ground. The latest data published by the Australian Communications and Media Authority point towards the growth of online traffic.
The ACMA report focused on the traffic related to gambling activities. As expected, this segment is growing but not as fast as predicted.
We must mention, though, that the results might be perceived as outdated based on the time periods that are taken into consideration. The ACMA report compares the first half of the last year with the first half of the year before.
Growth Much Slower Than Expected
In the first six months of last year, 11% of Australians participated in online gambling activities in some way.
This number is 3% higher than for the same period in the year before. The increase of 3% is much lower than what was expected from the experts.
When it comes to numbers, sports betting and horse racing are deadlocked. Sports betting is slightly ahead with 57%, but racing is behind by only 2%.
On the other hand, the one segment of sports betting that hasn’t yet become popular down under is eSports. Wagering on eSports makes only 5% of the total online betting.
If we take the US as a comparison, we can see that betting on eSports is higher by 3.5%, according to the Gamin Law Review report from 2021.
Esports might not be that popular in Australia, but they are still more popular than betting on politics.
However, one thing hasn’t changed much in the last couple of reports by the ACMA, and that is the most popular type of betting in the country.
For most Australians, the lottery is still the way to go when it comes to punting online. To be precise, 21% of the adult population wagers on online lotteries.
The one thing that the report confirmed is that a part of the population still wagers on illegal platforms. 5% of the gamblers that were involved in the report confessed that they gamble on unregulated sites.
More Efficient Regulations Needed
To reduce the number of players using black-market gambling platforms, the ACMA is looking to get more power.
At the moment, the Agency has no authority to make demands towards gaming operators or, for that matter, any digital platforms. In an effort to make some changes regarding this subject, they have contacted lawmakers.
To start making the necessary changes regarding the authority of the Agency, the agency’s chairman Nerita O’Loughlin has had a hearing in the Senate.
As she explained, at the moment, ACMA has no power to stop or punish digital platforms that publish false information.
She mentioned that while the Agency has some authority over, for example, telecommunication companies, it doesn’t have the same authority over digital platforms.
And while for the major of her speech, O’Loughlin referred to digital platforms and not gaming platforms specifically, if the ACMA gets the regulatory authority they seek, this will have a huge impact on illegal gambling platforms in Australia.
