Australian Online Sports Betting Shows Dramatic Increase

It has been suggested that increased TV coverage of sporting events in Australia has led to a boom in wagering on sports in that country. Gambling on sports outcomes has seen the most rapid growth in the betting industry over the past five years. Comparing 2004 2005 stats which pegged punting at $1.6 billion, Australians are predicted to gamble $2.9 billion on matches and leagues this financial year, according to figures recently produced by analysts IBISWorld. The growing trend represents annual average growth of 12 per cent, far out weighing the increase of 1.2 per cent spent on pokies and the 0.5 per cent increase in wagers on horseracing.

The IBISWorld spokesperson, Sam Ellis, said, " The increased popularity of online gambling is one of the main factors behind the increase. There are more and more people who don't buy into that culture of going into the TAB or pokies for a bet but who are happy to go on the internet and to bet online," Ellis added, "Sports betting and betting on something you know about is particularly appealing to this younger demographic of gamblers and when you compare sports betting to putting money in pokies, there is certainly a sense of a test of knowledge rather than relying on luck." 

Bookmaker Alan Eskander, agrees, "Sports, whether you are talking about the NRL, AFL or soccer, if it gets huge media coverage then it really gets people talking. Most offices have a footy tipping competition and people have an opinion on the big games. It's no surprise that more people want to bet on something they have a knowledge and understanding of rather than sports like horse racing which, unless you've been brought up going to the track, can be more difficult to get a handle on."

Gerard Daffy, a spokesperson for online bookmaker Sports Alive, said, "There has been tremendous growth in sports betting recently. A large part of this has to be put down to increased coverage on TV. When digital channel OneHD began showing netball, we suddenly found there were people who wanted to bet on that sport."