the recent shutdown of all non-essential services<\/em><\/strong><\/a> due to the impact of Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBased on a sample of transactions of 250,000 Australian consumers, the figures show the online gambling industry as big winners of the nationwide and worldwide shutdown. Services like food delivery are up 63 per cent, and online retail and subscription services, up 61 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sports betting and wagering is allowed in Australia but online casino gaming and poker are not, as these are strictly prohibited under the Interactive Gambling Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The figures do not break down the rise in online gambling by type, and they also do not outline whether the data refers only to legal gambling activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No restrictions have been placed on online gambling in Australia since the outbreak of the Coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monash University professor Charles Livingstone said: “They\u2019re [poker machines] tapping straight into the pleasure genre of your brain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“People who are under stress find that very liberating. It’s actually quite alarming if it is indeed 67 per cent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alliance for Gambling Reform executive director Tony Mohr said: “Now we’re seeing you can bet on the colour of Scomo’s [Scott Morrison] tie, the weather and the sharemarket itself.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is like having a leech on society as we’re trying to fight a war. It’s the worst possible time to be hindering people who are trying to get by.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A study reveals a 67 per cent increase in online gambling since the start of the Coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"A joint study by illion and AlphaBeta reveals a 67% surge in online gambling in Australia following COVID-19 shutdowns, based on a sample of 250,000 consumer transactions. While sports betting is permitted, online casino and poker remain prohibited under the Interactive Gambling Act, raising questions about the nature and legality of this growth. The findings highlight significant shifts in consumer behavior and potential regulatory challenges amidst the pandemic.","focusai_entities":"illion, AlphaBeta, Monash University, Charles Livingstone, Alliance for Gambling Reform, Tony Mohr, Scott Morrison","focusai_location":"Australia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), affiliate_publisher (0.75), marketing_crm (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.85), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on GGR?","query":"What is the estimated GGR increase for licensed online wagering operators in Australia, and how does this compare to pre-COVID-19 projections?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Strategy?","query":"Given the 67% surge and the prohibition of online casino\/poker, what specific enforcement actions or policy reviews are Australian regulators considering to address potential illegal market expansion?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,161,158,155],"tags":[289,7299,12600,4138],"class_list":["post-5479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-daily-news","category-slider-home","category-sports-betting-news","tag-australia","tag-coronavirus","tag-focus-gaming-news","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5479"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21384,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5479\/revisions\/21384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}