State Of Origin – How Victorians lead the way when it comes to per capita wagering spend

Australia’s reputation for having the highest gambling expenditure per capita owes as much to the long-standing regulation of our gambling industry as it does to the nation’s fondness for a bet.

The most recent data, from the 40th edition of the Australian Gambling Statistics, indicates that in 2023/24, the average Australian adult spent $1521.28 on gambling per year.

That figure, calculated by independent research conducted by the Queensland Treasury, has fallen over the past decade, having stood at $1570 in 2013/14.

That may surprise those who assume a rise in the profile of aspects like sports betting as evidence of a rise in overall gambling.

In comparison, the average gambling expenditure per adult in the United States, which has nearly 10 times the population, currently sits at the equivalent of AU$1075. Ten years ago, it sat at a tick under $AU700 per person.

So why has the United States spend per capita gone up so dramatically in that time?

The answer is the widespread legalisation of sports betting, but it is not as simple as people betting more because they can now. A significant part of that is the previously untraceable black market, now becoming legitimised, and is being tracked.

That’s why the figures often used that Australians are the biggest gamblers in the world per capita should be accompanied by an asterisk. We may be the biggest in regulated markets, but in a world where the estimation of the size of unregulated gambling markets gets bigger every day, it is not a given that overall gambling figures have Australia at number one.

Beyond that Australian stat of $1521 per day, it’s also worth noting that wagering, ie sports and racing betting, makes up $398, or 26.2 per cent of that annual expenditure. The rest is gaming, lottos and casinos.

In a country with 186,000 gaming machines, the pokies (non-casino) make up $770 of that annual per capita figure, while the combination of lotteries, gaming machines, casino, interactive gaming and minor gaming represents an average spend of $1123 per adult.

What is interesting, based on the data we have, is the different behaviour of gamblers by state.

New South Wales has by far the highest average gambling spend per capita at $2007, but just 21.4 per cent of that is attributable to wagering. That is likely because it has over half – 89,296 to be exact – of Australia’s poker machines.

In Victoria, the average gambling spend is $1357. However, the wagering proportion of that is much higher, at 34 per cent.

That makes Victorian wagering punters the largest in the country, with per capita spend of $462 per adult per year.

NSW is second at $435, with Western Australia third at $373. Next are Queensland ($351), the Northern Territory ($301), South Australia ($281), the ACT ($266), and Tasmania ($226).

In terms of the highest proportion of wagering compared to overall gambling expenditure, Western Australia comfortably leads the way on 41.6 per cent.

There is a very simple answer to that. WA has the fewest pokies of any jurisdiction, and they are all confined to a single casino.

The WA situation, where it arguably overindexes in wagering, supports the argument that reducing gaming machines would have a significant impact on betting on racing and sports.

What is also interesting is that the WA market retains a government-owned wagering company, which, while not as dominant as it was 10 years ago, still has a presence against the corporate bookmakers from the east coast.

Speaking of the east coast, it would be interesting to know if the wagering companies utilise the Australian Gambling Statistics data to determine the potential size of market, when prioritising investment.

While regulatory and taxation barriers no doubt play a part, when you look at the resources Ladbrokes has put into the Queensland market or even Sportsbet in the South Australian market in terms of sponsorship, you have to ask if they are truly fishing where there are more fish to be caught?

Their data is likely to be more comprehensive of the matter and may tell a different story. It’s not easy to access data, although some companies are more forthcoming than others.

Entain’s data show that it overindexes in states where it has major sponsorship deals.

Of Ladbrokes and Neds’ active customer numbers, 25.6 per cent are in Queensland, where 20.6 per cent of Australia’s adult population resides and where the companies are headquartered.

It also overindexes in Victoria, another place where it has spent significant investment through club sponsorships and the likes, where 26.9 per cent of its account holders are located, where there is 25.6 per cent of population.

Entain is also slightly overrepresented among Tasmanian customers, at 2.3 per cent compared to 2.1 per cent of the population.  

New South Wales, where Ladbrokes has some sponsorship in greyhounds, but none in the thoroughbred space, has 31.1 per cent of the adult population but 29.1 per cent of Entain account holders.

In WA, where 10.9 per cent of Australian adults live, Entain has 8.6 per cent of its customers, while similarly South Australians make up 5.3 per cent of Entain’s active customers but 7 per cent of the adult population.

It slightly underindexes compared to the adult population in the two territories: 1.5-1.8 in the ACT and 0.8-0.9 in the Northern Territory.

That data is only from one bookmaker, representing around 18 per cent of the online market, and it would be interesting to see how the trend plays out across other bookies.

What is clear, though, is that while other states have become battlegrounds for promotion, the wagering data show that the biggest spenders, both per capita and overall, reside in the two most populous states.

State-by-state data on wagering and overall gambling spend 

Source: Australian Gambling Statistics

State	Wagering per capita	Overall per capita	Wagering/gambling %
NSW	$435	$2,007	21.7%
VIC	$462	$1,357	34.0%
Qld	$351	$1,518	23.1%
SA	$281	$1,200	23.4%
WA	$373	$896	41.6%
Tas	$227	$888	25.6%
ACT	$266	$1,046	25.5%
NT	$301	$1,871	16.1%
Overall	$398	$1,521	26.2%