This factsheet provides an overview of the extent of gambling harm in Australia and the ACT, outlines statistics on the prevalence of harm, and outlines ACTCOSS’ advocacy asks. This is one of a series of ACTCOSS factsheets that harnesses data to provide accessible insights into key social policy issues in the ACT.
The data indicates that gambling is a high cost, low return activity for the ACT community and across Australia more broadly:
- The total gambling losses in ACT in 2016-17 amounted to around $242 million. The vast majority of losses (93%) came from gaming. This equated to gambling losses of $764 per person over the year.
- The estimated total gaming tax revenue in the ACT for 2017-18 was $34.2 million.
- The social cost of problem gambling in Australia over one year has been estimated to be between $4.7 and $8.4 billion. The social (non-financial) costs per problem gambler were estimated to be between $10,000 and $30,000.