I don’t think this qualifies as breaking news, but Australians really like gambling. Well, it’s news in the Courier Mail:
AUSTRALIANS love to punt, to the tune of $18.8 billion in the past year, an increase of 7.5 per cent.
Spending on gambling has grown at a faster pace than total household spending for the past two years.
According to unpublished data from the Bureau of Statistics, the average Australian spends about $17.50 a week on gambling or 3.4 per cent of total spending.
Spending by the average Aussie on non-racing activities such as poker machines, lotteries and casinos has risen by 7 per cent a year over the past decade.
By comparison, spending on racing has been relatively constant for the past decade at about $2 a week.
…
Having a flutter: Weekly spendingGambling $17.50
Mobile phones, internet$14.60
TVs, MP3s, DVDs etc$11.60
Gym, sporting events $8.20
Papers, books, magazines $7.50
Cultural activities$5.70
Pets$1.90
Cinema$1.90
Love of a bet grows deeper | The Courier-Mail
Keep in mind, those last figures are ouf of a total average expenditure of $516, and that the numbers are Australian dollars.
Still, it puts it all in perspective, doesn’t it? Gambling first, the printed word fifth.
Let’s hope that having a history of gambling available pulls those numbers a little closer.