USA Today – Some call it the Lucky Country, but Australia is not so fortunate when it comes to wagers. Eighty percent of its citizens engage in some kind of gambling — the highest rate of any country in the world — and they lose more than anyone else, to the tune of some $21.5 billion a year.
Gambling comes in various forms, including lotteries, bingo and sport betting, but the main drivers behind Australia’s epidemic are the electronic gaming machines known as “pokies.” There’s one poker machine for every 108 people — only tiny Monaco can compete — and over half of all gambling revenue comes from these seemingly friendly but highly addictive machines.
Pokies are an expected part of the décor in most Australian pubs and clubs and nowhere more so than in New South Wales, the indisputable king of the country’s gambling circuit. The state holds the second-largest number of poker machines in the world, only after Nevada. Victoria and South Australia collect the highest annual gambling revenue per capita, about $350 and $300, respectively. The only notable exception is Western Australia, where gaming machines are illegal, leaving most gamblers to make due with the lottery.
