Per capita gambling expenditure

IBISWorld forecasts per capita gambling expenditure to rise by 1.3% in 2025-26 to $1572.23. The main driver of growth in 2025-26 is likely to be increasing real household discretionary income. Real household discretionary income in 2025-26 is expected to rise as wage growth will outpace price growth, supported by a robust labour market and tax relief measures like the Stage 3 tax cuts that will boost after-tax earnings. At the same time, the looming threat of an interest rate hike, prompted by consumer price inflation slipping above the RBA's 3.0% target upper bound could partially offset these gains. Nonetheless, an elevated real household discretionary income in 2025-26 will support growth in spending on forms of entertainment, like gambling.

Per capita gambling expenditure has fluctuated over the past five years, but has grown for the majority of the period as the gambling sector has continued its recovery from the pandemic fallout. COVID-19 pandemic restrictions led to temporary closures of casinos, pubs and other gambling licensed venues, drastically reducing turnover and expenditure on in-person gaming. Some sporting competitions and racing continued to operate online throughout the pandemic, counteracting some of the declines in in-person gambling at gaming machines and casinos.

Between 2020-21 and 2022-23, per capita gambling expenditure was on a strong upward trajectory. Discretionary income was high coming out of the pandemic, driven by wage subsidies like JobKeeper. The relaxation of pandemic restrictions also allowed the return of in-person gambling at casinos and licensed venues with gaming machines. As a result, high discretionary income and growing in-person gambling expenditure pushed up expenditure on gambling activities in the early post-pandemic years.

However, cost-of-living pressures following the end of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions stunted growth in per capita gambling expenditure. Financial pressure on households has forced many to reconsider gambling habits and cut back on spending on gambling as a form of entertainment. Despite these financial pressures arising after the end of COVID-19, online sports betting has remained popular, partially thanks to effective marketing campaigns targeted to young gamblers. The growing uptake of online wagering, facilitated by gambling mobile apps, has also led to a shift towards sports betting at the expense of more traditional platforms like poker machines. Nonethless, sports betting still only makes up a small share of total per capita gambling expenditure, with poker machine expenditures accounting for more than half of total gambling expenditure. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts per capita gambling expenditure to rise at a compound annual rate of 2.4% over the five years through to 2025-26.