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It’s getting easier to become a problem gambler in Australia
When it comes to gambling, Australia isn’t such a lucky country with the number of problem gamblers losing money on the rise, finds the latest HILDA survey
Published 6 March 2025
Content warning
Watch any major sporting competition – live or on TV – and at some point, you’ll probably be encouraged to have a punt by one of a number of sports betting businesses.
Whether betting on the result of a footy match or horse race, choosing the winning team in a basketball game, or picking the greyhound who’ll cross the line first, sports betting apps are transforming where, when and how often Australians – especially young men – gamble.
Data from the latest annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey shows that between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of men participating in sports betting increased by 66 per cent (up from 5.6 per cent in 2015 to 9.3 per cent in 2022).
Overall, while 3.3 per cent of Australians took part in some form of sports betting in 2015, in 2022 this figure rose to 5.1 per cent.
The HILDA Survey follows the lives of more than 17,000 Australians each year, over the course of their lifetime, and collects information on many aspects of life in Australia including household and family relationships, income and employment, health and education.
The lure and ease of sports betting
“Sports betting is certainly becoming more prevalent among younger people, partly because of the way it is marketed through social media campaigns and apps.
"It makes it easier to gamble,” says Dr Ferdi Botha, HILDA author from the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, University of Melbourne.
“Young people are more likely to gamble online or via an app than go to a casino or the pokies. In poker machine venues you’re more likely to see older Australians gambling, but the online gambling world and sports betting is skewed towards younger people.”
Dr Botha expects the number of younger Australians attracted to sports betting to continue to rise. He says that’s concerning and a reason to consider tighter regulation of the sports betting industry.
“At some point, it may be time to introduce measures that make it more difficult for sports betting companies to promote their services, and harder for people to register with a sports betting app."
Facing the challenge of newer forms of gambling
Dr Olivia Metcalf, Senior Research Fellow in Digital Health at the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health at the University of Melbourne, is a behavioural scientist who has studied addictive behaviours.
She says the unconstrained 24/7 accessibility of sports betting makes it more difficult to prevent people developing problem gambling behaviours.
“In a physical environment, you can put policies and regulations in place to support an individual – you can limit the amount a person can lose on a poker machine, for example," says Dr Metcalf.
"But how do you minimise risky gambling and gambling harm when a person gambles at home using their phone or laptop?”.
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“Anecdotally, I’ve heard of young men downloading multiple apps and having multiple sports betting accounts, so there’s a higher risk of losing more money and faster.
"They can gamble at any time and almost anywhere, so working out how to support people who get into difficulties with this type of gambling presents a real challenge.
“We’re getting better at helping young Australians understand the harms that can arise from technology, like cyberbullying, sexting and online scams. We also need to talk about online gambling and the harms that can cause.”
Poker machines – fewer people are playing but losing more
The latest HILDA survey, conducted in 2022, also shows we’re spending more per month on poker machines – the amount has almost doubled from $AU120.66 in 2015 to $AU241.09 in 2022.
But this rise in monthly expenditure coincides with a fall in the number of Australians who actually report playing the pokies.
This suggests that while fewer people are gambling on poker machines, those who are playing are spending more.
HILDA also tells us that women are more likely to put their money into poker machines – women’s monthly expenditure leapt from $AU100.68 in 2018 to $AU284.96 in 2022.
Dr Botha believes loneliness may be partly behind this trend.
“Many older people use gambling as a way of socialising and to alleviate feelings of loneliness,” he says.
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Lottery games losing their appeal
The latest HILDA data highlights that lotto or lottery games are by far the most prevalent gambling activity, with 29.6 per cent of Australians buying a lottery ticket in 2015.
However, they may be losing their allure with 26.3 per cent of people playing the lottery in 2022.
Instant scratch tickets have also seen a fall in popularity – 8.5 per cent of Australians bought scratchies in 2015, but only 5.3 per cent bought them in 2022.
Horse and dog racing continue to be popular among men with a rise in participation from 9.3 per cent in 2015 to 10.1 per cent in 2022.
The hurt and harm of problem gambling
The nation’s love of gambling is, inevitably, causing hurt and harm for some.
The HILDA survey found that the number of Australians reporting high-risk gambling harms increased from 1.1 per cent in 2018 to 1.8 per cent in 2022.
Although this percentage may seem small, at 2022 population levels it equates to around 157,000 women and almost 310,000 men.
“This has impacts not only on the men and women who gamble, but their families,” says Dr Botha.
“For women, their life satisfaction is significantly lower and they are more likely to be heavy drinkers. For men, we see mental health decline and they are much more likely to be in financial stress.
"The effects of high-risk gambling are deep and far-reaching.”
The greatest tragedy
Dr Metcalf agrees that the effects of gambling harm spread beyond financial impacts.
“Problem gambling impacts a person’s mental health, physical health and relationships. If you are gambling and losing money and trying to hide that, it creates enormous pressures on personal and family relationships.
"It can impact your job or study – it can affect almost every area of a person’s life,” she says.
“One of the greatest tragedies of gambling is when you lose a lot of money, your mental health is suffering, your physical health is impacted, your relationships have broken down and you’ve lost your job, some people can feel that the only way out is suicide.
“But people aren’t alone. There is support and help available, and many services are now accessible 24/7. ”
