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Research Paper no.14 2001-2002

Gambling: An Australian Tradition on the Up!

Geoff Winter
Statistics Group
14 May 2002

 

Contents

Introduction
Background
Turnover
Expenditure
Revenues
Conclusion
Further reading
Chronology
Glossary
Endnotes

List of Tables

Table 1. Turnover: All Forms of Gambling, Australia, 1972-73 to 1999-2000
Table 2. Selected Indicators: All Forms of Gambling, Australia, 1972-73 to 1999-2000
Table 3. Gambling Turnover: Per Head, 1999-2000
Table 4. Government Revenue: All Forms of Gambling, Australia, 1972-73 to 1999-2000
Table 5. Government Revenue: States and Territories, Australia, 1972-73 to 1999-2000
Table 6. Government Revenue: Australia, 1972-73 to 1999-2000

Introduction

Gambling has been an inherent part of Australian culture from the beginning of European settlement.(1) In the beginning it was mainly horse-racing, then lotteries, then 'poker machines' in New South Wales in the 1950s and now, with legalised gambling facilities and opportunities having expanded greatly over the past 30-odd years, all known forms of gambling seem to be available. This has led to substantial increases in amounts wagered and net losses and has produced massive revenues for governments. This paper concentrates only on the financial aspects of gambling, showing that turnover, expenditure (losses) and revenues have increased substantially in real terms, especially for gaming activities. It does not discuss the political economy of gambling development which is quite complex,(2) nor does it address the social issues arising from gambling, whether illegal or legal.(3) Sources for further reading, a chronology showing how the facilities and opportunities for legalised gambling have expanded, and a glossary explaining all the terms used in this paper are provided at the end of the paper.

Background

Control of gambling has generally been under State (and Territory) government jurisdiction in Australia. These governments have legislated to permit various forms of gambling in return for regulation and revenue-raising. The more 'traditional' forms of gambling in Australia have often also been conducted, but not exclusively, by governments, for example, on horse-racing through the various Totalisator Agency Boards (TABs) and lotteries through various commissions. Increasingly governments' role has been one of regulation only as previously publicly-owned bodies such as the TABs have been privatised. However, the revenues continue to come in, generally increasing year by year, sometimes to an alarming extent in the view of many commentators and policy-makers. Revenues are only proportions of the amounts people spend on gambling, and are again heavily regulated. Generally they derive from the various proportions of turnover, i.e. for the purposes of this brief the amounts people originally 'wager' or bet or 'invest', and not from proportions of how much they 'gamble' or lose (which for the purposes of this brief is defined as expenditure). (See the Glossary for the definitions of these terms.)

Turnover

Turnover on gambling activities, i.e. the amount people actually bet, has risen dramatically in recent years. In 1972-73, the first year for which fully comprehensive figures were available, Australians gambled almost $3.7 billion, mostly on racing (see Table 1). Even then almost half of all gambling was on gaming ('poker') machines, which was the single biggest form of gambling throughout the country even though they existed only in New South Wales. By then the other traditional form of gambling in Australia-lotteries-had been swamped in turnover terms by gaming machines and racing, and the first casino in Australia had only just opened in Tasmania. The changing patterns in Australian gambling can be seen from Table 1 and the Chronology.

Table 1. Turnover: All Forms of Gambling, Australia, 1972-73 to 1999-2000

($ millions)

Racing

Gaming

Sports betting

Total
all
gambling

TAB

On-
course
book-
maker

On-
course
total-
isator

Off-
course
book-
maker

Total

Lotteries

Lotto,
Tatts-
lotto

Instant -
lotteries
money,
'scratchies'

Pools

Casino

Minor
gaming

Keno

Gaming
machines

Inter-
active
gaming

Total

1972-73

973.8

942.1

172.2

39.1

2 127.2

116.1

12.1

9.8

3.5

1 419.5

1 561.0

3 688.3

1973-74

1 145.7

1 101.8

190.2

43.1

2 480.8

124.0

35.9

29.1

10.6

1 694.5

1 894.1

4 372.9

1974-75

1 456.4

1 384.5

235.4

35.5

3 111.8

151.0

74.1

4.8

31.0

14.8

2 396.7

2 672.4

5 784.1

1975-76

1 609.2

1 556.2

267.7

8.1

3 441.3

163.6

124.2

24.5

34.4

20.5

2 780.5

3 147.8

6 589.1

1976-77

1 740.1

1 717.6

285.2

8.3

3 751.2

177.5

188.7

28.0

38.6

28.0

3 094.4

3 555.2

7 306.4

1977-78

1 899.2

1 827.2

341.3

7.7

4 075.4

184.8

237.1

33.4

40.6

47.8

3 325.3

3 869.0

7 944.3

1978-79

2 025.8

1 969.6

376.2

33.4

4 405.0

193.0

288.7

19.5

46.8

48.3

75.0

3 664.3

4 335.6

8 740.6

1979-80

2 212.4

2 159.0

446.4

31.2

4 849.0

188.6

409.6

21.0

57.9

80.0

97.3

4 098.3

4 952.7

9 801.7

1980-81

2 447.6

2 271.9

479.4

39.6

5 238.6

192.9

526.6

17.1

43.7

87.2

120.3

4 725.3

5 712.9

10 951.5

1981-82

2 711.2

2 461.0

553.7

37.5

5 763.5

176.9

663.0

90.0

28.5

126.4

138.9

5 046.5

6 270.3

12 033.8

1982-83

2 957.5

2 484.3

621.6

37.1

6 100.5

146.0

732.1

262.2

37.8

146.9

150.3

5 056.1

6 531.4

12 631.8

1983-84

3 367.4

2 636.5

706.4

44.7

6 755.0

140.6

862.6

285.1

36.0

179.9

186.3

5 332.7

7 023.3

13 778.3

1984-85

3 700.9

2 648.0

745.0

51.6

7 145.4

134.0

1 002.1

368.9

34.2

204.6

193.7

5 712.2

7 649.7

14 795.2

1985-86

4 263.5

2 920.1

838.1

8.9

8 030.6

141.2

1 011.6

375.2

60.9

722.4

217.7

6 035.3

8 564.3

16 594.8

1986-87

4 633.7

3 017.8

888.9

9.7

8 550.0

143.9

1 170.1

389.9

50.6

1 286.6

230.3

6 787.6

10 058.9

18 608.9

1987-88

5 318.1

2 936.5

998.8

11.4

9 264.7

142.6

1 300.5

420.7

39.2

1 573.6

246.8

7 644.0

11 367.4

20 632.1

1988-89

6 262.0

3 015.8

1 068.6

9.8

10 356.2

151.6

1 405.9

467.8

28.8

2 187.4

293.9

9 789.0

14 324.4

24 680.6

1989-90

6 959.9

2 975.1

1 109.4

9.7

11 054.2

173.9

1 614.9

569.8

26.3

2 948.0

347.1

10 753.1

16 433.0

27 487.2

1990-91

7 392.6

2 690.1

1 155.3

8.2

11 246.2

175.9

1 781.8

621.6

22.0

2 721.1

630.9

12 552.7

18 506.1

29 752.3

1991-92

7 646.4

2 287.5

1 100.7

7.9

11 042.4

162.7

1 880.6

650.1

20.7

2 894.8

658.0

128.8

13 987.4

20 383.1

31 425.5

1992-93

7 934.1

1 946.8

1 061.1

6.0

10 948.0

174.0

1 825.1

652.0

21.2

3 216.2

685.2

236.5

19 169.4

25 979.5

36 927.5

1993-94

8 382.4

1 864.5

999.5

5.1

11 251.4

168.2

1 958.9

636.2

29.7

4 491.4

682.3

334.2

29 259.7

37 560.5

48 811.9

1994-95

8 561.4

2 020.4

964.6

4.6

11 551.1

147.1

2 149.9

600.2

18.4

8 313.1

647.1

473.3

37 849.3

50 198.4

108.4

61 857.9

1995-96

8 726.2

1 839.0

949.9

3.5

11 518.7

163.6

2 269.1

559.8

19.7

12 066.1

640.0

504.0

44 663.4

60 885.8

143.5

72 548.0

1996-97

8 866.1

1 601.7

912.0

3.0

11 382.9

161.0

2 200.7

551.3

15.9

15 043.6

500.8

519.1

49 809.9

68 802.4

216.3

80 401.5

1997-98

8 987.0

1 619.9

891.3

1.8

11 500.0

161.9

2 316.4

585.1

15.3

23 640.1

653.9

701.3

57 676.2

85 750.2

351.5

97 601.6

1998-99

9 417.3

1 497.9

800.3

1.7

11 717.2

175.5

2 443.9

602.9

16.0

20 350.1

701.9

724.3

66 036.0

91 053.2

461.4

103 231.7

1999-2000

9 677.9

1 310.4

652.6

1.1

11 642.0

144.2

2 468.3

632.4

16.5

22 646.7

689.9

722.9

74 139.5

105.7

101 566.0

655.8

113 863.7

Source: Australian Gambling Statistics, various (Tasmanian Gaming Commission).

Table 2. Selected Indicators: All Forms of Gambling, Australia, 1972-73 to 1999-2000

Year

Total Racing

 

Total Gaming

 

Total All Gambling (a)

Turnover

Expenditure

Turnover

Expenditure

Turnover

Expenditure (b)

Actual

Real (c)

Actual

Real(c)

Real (c) per
head (d)

Actual

Real (c)

Actual

Real(b)

Real (c) per
head (d)

Actual

Real (c)

Actual

Proportion
of HDI (e)

Real(c)

Real (c)
per
head (d)

($m.)

($m.)

($m.)

($m.)

($ p.a.)

($m.)

($m.)

($m.)

($m.)

($p.a.)

($m.)

($m.)

($m.)

(%)

($m.)

($p.a.)

1972-73

2 127.2

12 892.4

227.8

1 380.3

155.33

1 561.0

9 460.7

236.1

1 431.0

161.05

3 688.3

22 353.1

463.9

1.55

2 811.3

316.38

1973-74

2 480.8

13 337.6

265.3

1 426.5

157.38

1 894.1

10 183.5

291.3

1 565.9

172.76

4 372.9

23 510.4

556.6

1.51

2 992.4

330.14

1974-75

3 111.8

14 366.4

343.4

1 585.2

171.59

2 672.4

12 338.0

413.7

1 910.1

206.75

5 784.1

26 704.4

757.1

1.74

3 495.3

378.34

1975-76

3 441.3

14 072.4

379.5

1 551.7

165.18

3 147.8

12 872.5

504.1

2 061.5

219.45

6 589.1

26 944.8

883.6

1.72

3 613.3

384.63

1976-77

3 751.2

13 479.6

412.2

1 481.3

155.01

3 555.2

12 775.2

582.9

2 094.8

219.21

7 306.4

26 254.8

995.2

1.71

3 576.1

374.22

1977-78

4 075.4

13 374.0

455.7

1 495.4

153.63

3 869.0

12 696.7

648.4

2 127.9

218.61

7 944.3

26 070.7

1 104.1

1.72

3 623.3

372.25

1978-79

4 405.0

13 360.2

490.1

1 486.5

149.87

4 335.6

13 149.6

746.3

2 263.4

228.20

8 740.6

26 509.8

1 236.4

1.70

3 749.8

378.06

1979-80

4 849.0

13 345.7

539.3

1 484.2

146.79

4 952.7

13 631.0

872.5

2 401.4

237.49

9 801.7

26 976.7

1 411.8

1.75

3 885.6

384.28

1980-81

5 238.6

13 191.1

587.5

1 479.3

143.29

5 712.9

14 385.4

1 005.1

2 530.8

245.15

10 951.5

27 576.6

1 592.5

1.73

4 010.1

388.44

1981-82

5 763.5

13 133.8

649.9

1 481.0

140.26

6 270.3

14