Eight facts about Australia’s multi-billion-dollar betting industry

As CrownBet completes its acquisition of William Hill’s Australian business, Roy Morgan has released a study into the state of the country’s betting sector.

A major observation made in the Roy Morgan Gambling Currency Reports is how the industry has changed in recent years due to the uptake of smartphones and increasing use of betting apps.

More Australians are opting to gamble from the comfort of their own couch, on the wide open road, or even from the stands at a sporting event.

See also:

• CrownBet buys William Hill Australia following Stars Group investment
• Crown Resorts confirms talks regarding potential sale of CrownBet stake
• Read the latest edition of ANZ’s Business Chief magazine
   

Sports betting has gained prominence in recent years but analysing the overall betting market shows that racing – whether horse racing, harness racing or greyhound racing – still commands nearly 75% of the Australian betting market.

But what other key statistics does the research highlight? Here are seven further facts you need to know:

1. Horse racing accounts for 50.9% of the entire betting market in Australia
2. Sports betting equals 25% of the money Australian’s bet in 2017, driven by the two major codes of football
3. New South Wales and Victoria are the biggest gambling markets
4. In the last three months, 10.5% of Australians placed a bet
5. Australians aged 50-64 are the most likely to bet, with 12.6% of this age bracket betting in the last three months
6. Australians aged 18-24 are the least likely to bet, with 7.2% of this age bracket betting in the last three months
7. Tasmania appears to be the least penetrated state, with 7.2% of Tasmanians betting in the last three months.
    

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine commented: “Intriguingly the likelihood of having a bet also co-relates fairly well to the size of the State an Australian is from. The most likely Australians to have a bet are those from Australia’s largest States of New South Wales (11.1%) and Victoria (11.5%) whilst the least likely are from Australia’s two smaller States of South Australia (8.1%) and Tasmania (7.2%).

“This disparity is likely related to the lack of professional sporting content available in smaller markets. As a comparison there are 17 professional AFL/NRL/Super Rugby/A-League clubs in New South Wales, 14 in Victoria, 7 in Queensland and 3 each in Western Australia and South Australia. There are no professional football clubs in Tasmania.”