Australian Online Gambling
If you’ve been gambling at an online casino, bookmaker or bingo site, you’re not alone. It seems that more and more Australians are placing their bets online, based on numbers released by Tabcorp this week.
Overall, Tabcorp said that their profits were up 12.7% over the 2011/2012 fiscal year ending this June, at least after accounting for the demerger from their casinos. Overall, Tabcorp made $301.6 million, with essentially all of the new growth coming in the online arena.
Turnover through Tabcorp’s calling centres was down 6.8%, while on-course betting was down 6.3%. But that didn’t matter, as online wagering grew by over 14% over the previous year. It’s a continuation of the trend seen by Tabcorp in recent years, as more and more punters have turned away from calling in bets or making them on site, choosing instead to do so from their own computers.
As expected, much of this growth also seems to be connected with increased betting through mobile devices.
“Over 20% of online turnover is now being placed through mobile devices,” said Tabcorp CEO David Attenborough.
One of the ways in which this shows trends in betting is through gambling at racetracks. The drop in on-course betting seems unusual, given that attendances at races is still quite high. However, the increasing reliance on mobile devices helps explain this trend. It turns out that more and more gamblers are spending time at the races but choosing to place bets from their seats through phones and tablets rather than at the windows.
One place where Tabcorp did not make a lot of money was through the Summer Olympics. According to Attenborough, the Olympics made for a lot of walk, but the time difference between Australia and London made most betting unpalatable for punters. Instead, it was used more as a time to attract new and casual bettors to their products.
The numbers from Tabcorp follow the trends seen by most Australian and overseas betting firms. Online gambling has become an increasingly acceptable way to make wagers, and in the last two years, mobile gambling has been the fastest growing method of placing bets in the industry. This trend is likely to continue, as most online gambling sites add and improve mobile options to attract new users. In addition, the increased regulation of online gambling in Australia and other jurisdictions is expected to increase consumer confidence in the years to come.
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