Aussie punters are set to lose about $200 million to foreign bookies this year thanks to a growing addiction to sports betting. That’s nearly $10 each for every man, woman and child. Experts warn we are breeding the next generation of problem gamblers: young men with a smartphone and a reckless urge to win.
Aggressive television advertising and high profile sponsorship deals with sporting codes have turned sports gambling into the fastest growing type of gambling in Australia. Aussies punted $160 billion on gambling in 2009-10 – more than we spent on food. Of this, we lost $18.5 billion – or 12 per cent of all money bet. We lost $10 billion on the pokies, $3.5 billion in casinos, $2.6 billion on horse racing, $1.3 billion on lotto and $300 million on sports betting.
According to a senior lecturer in public health at Monash University, Charles Livingstone, Aussie punters losses on sports betting have since spiralled to about $400 million a year. “There’s no doubt that it’s growing faster than any other form of gambling,” Dr Livingstone said. Foreign bookmakers have sniffed an opportunity, gobbling up more than half of the Australian sports betting market, he said.
UK betting giant William Hill now owns Sportingbet, Centrebet and Tom Waterhouse. Bet 365 and betting exchange Betfair are also UK based. Irish firm Paddy Power owns Sportsbet and IASbet. Unibet is headquartered in Malta and listed on the Swedish stock exchange. While these companies pay some tax and employ some Australians, the bulk of their profits – the gambling losses of mum and dad punters – are sent overseas.
“These companies make profits and that’s where it goes,” Dr Livingstone explained. Sports betting agencies spent a staggering $50 million on TV, radio and print advertising in the past year – a record amount – according to Nielsen data.
While these companies pay some tax and employ some Australians, the bulk of their profits – the gambling losses of Aussie punters – are sent overseas. The best thing to do is to only support Australian online pokies, casino and sports gambling sites so that the bulk of the money stays here in our economy.
