Australia is World's Number 1

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

Australia beats Singapore to be the World Champ........

World’s Biggest Gambling Nations

Geraldine Tan, On Wednesday 6 July 2011, 14:33 SGT

Mention gambling and glitzy images of Las Vegas come to mind. But you'll be surprised to know Americans are not the world's biggest gamblers. In fact, the world's biggest gambling nations include plenty of unlikely candidates.

The rankings are based on data from H2 Gambling Capital , a consultancy based in London. They take into account average gaming losses (the amount bet and never recovered) in a year divided by the adult population in over 200 countries. The numbers include money lost on all types of betting including horse racing, poker machines, lotteries and casinos during 2010.

http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/World-Biggest-Gambling-cnbcwp-670922957.html

[Kubes.SG]

Grapes, thanks this.  I had heard about this report but not seen it.  Yep, plenty of opportunities to gamble in Australia, and something that I must admit to not getting into at all.  In fact I live by the bumper sticker that I saw many years ago:

Lotto is a tax on people who can't do mathematics.

But I am wondering, if as usual the SG data is corrupted to make SG look less bad.  As we know SG is the only country on the planet to charge its citizenry $100 to enter the casinos.  Since this is really part of the loss incurred from the decision to gamble in a casino, that charge should be included in the overall loss.  This would easily push SG into the lead.

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

Kubes - no need to be cynical about the data. As you rightly pointed out, if you add in the $100 levy (per entry), Singapore easily comes out top.

Also, if you look at the clientele of Australian casinos, they are predominantly Asians.  Dare I say it - maybe Australia's $1288 per head loss is augmented by Singaporean players.

[Kubes.SG]

I think you could very well categorize the background of punters' preferred gambling options by ethnicity.  Those paying poker (slot) machines are primarily working class battlers (AU heartlanders if you like);  those into racing gambling are across the socio-economic board; those in sports betting are males, usually not tertiary educated; and casinos are for tourists, mostly Asian, and professional gamblers.   

Kerry Packer was AU's richest man and one of the biggest gamblers in the world.  One time in Las Vegas he was sitting at a baccarat table in the high-roller room.  Next to him was a loud and increasingly irritating Texus oilman who kept going on about his own $60 million wealth.  After a while of this guy talking about his $60 million, Kerry Packer turned to him said, "So you're worth $60 million?"  and the guy said, "I sure am" with a massive conceited grin.  Packer replied:  "OK, I'll toss you for it."

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

Well, Singaporeans must be world's biggest losers.

Even before he enters the casino doors, before the dices are thrown, before the cards are dealt, before the arms of the slot-machines are pulled, and before the roulette wheel is spun, he already lost a hundred bucks.

[recovery]

but dont worry Wrath.....

chinese are "lucky" and have feng shui to beat the "so called mathematics" of the casinos.

Red underpants, charm amulets etc etc etc....


Sure win it back one!

[Vulcanl]

Clearly Singapore and Australia share certain similarities that are not obvious at first glance.  We may finally be getting to the bottom of why Kubes still chooses to live here