Due to the relatively recent events and closure of offline casinos, the number of online ones is increasing dramatically. An estimated 200000 slot or poker machines are now inactive, and predictions are not positive. Those land-based casinos are not expected to open very soon (at least without all the restrictions). Bored Australians, who have to stay inside find the entertainment in playing on online casino websites and mobile applications.
The drastic increase in popularity of online gambling
The most recent studies have shown a sharp rise in the percentage of people deciding to try their luck in online gambling. It is no surprise that this sector of the Australian economy boosted the most during the pandemic. If this tendency remains the same, analysts say that the expenditure in the sector will approximately increase by 2 billion dollars by the end of 2021. Although, what is going to happen to the traditional land-based casinos? Are they going to disappear? Well, they say time will tell, but the predictions for those are not that encouraging.
Changes of Direction
Until recently, the United States of America was considered the most promising gambling market in the world. But with the development of technologies, access to an online casino is now easy for everyone, who has a phone and Internet. Australia takes a large proportion of the whole gambling market. According to surveys, 89% of all Australians have gambled at least once in their lives. And now, there are more than seven million regular gamblers in Australia, which is 39% of the whole population. Surprisingly, the proportion of males and females are almost equal.
Online Gambling Laws of Australia
Despite the popularity of offline casinos, pokies or gaming machines in Australia, the law is strict toward the online world. And while it is not a problem for a player to place bets online, the Interactive Gambling Act (2001) states that it is illegal to offer people any online gambling products. Still, the biggest thing for Australians is finding a safe place, where they can enjoy a game without any fears. And hundreds of websites like CasinoChan Australia offer reasonable conditions and accept Australian dollars.
How much do Australians spend while in a lockdown?
When the deal comes to the number of money Australians are willing to spend gambling, the situation is turning upside down. Until very recently, the biggest expenditures of Australians in gambling have been landed-based casinos. It is no surprise since it is fully legal to operate in the country. The pandemic changed everything and hit offline businesses hard. So the money flows of more than 150 billion dollars (for 2019) are moving to the online casinos. Racing and sports betting are not lagging behind either. That is the second favorite type of gamble among Australians. The rise of online games affected it too. More and more people are placing their bets and watching the games online. Cybersport also contributes to the whole market with an increasing number of professionals and viewers.