According to a recent survery compiled by CommSec on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia spent $17.4 billion on gambling in the past year, with lotto, pools, poker machines and casinos as the favourite betting options.
The average Australian spends about $17 a week on gambling, which is 3.5 per cent of the average household budget. Numbers show this is more than what is spent on petrol, even with the recent price increases.
Furthermore, the survey showed that while Australians cut back on a range of goods and services in the past year they spent more on gambling.
“Gambling doesn’t seem to change too much over economic cycles,” said Craig James, CommSec chief equities economist.
A separate study revealed that Irish people are gambling over EUR70m a week and with online betting growing at a phenomenal rate of almost 70 per cent per year, the figure is set to hit the 100 million mark within the next two years.
According to industry estimates, Irish punters will spend EUR2.7bn in the nation\’s betting shops this year.
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