2009 Study on Gambling expenditure by level of problem gambling, type of activity, and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

Spending money is a defining feature of gambling. However, a relatively small proportion of gambling research has investigated the amounts of money spent by gamblers. In Australia around $20 billion is spent on gambling each year. The Australian Productivity Commission (2010) referred to an annual expenditure of $1,147 per adult in 2008-09 with gambling losses representing 3.1% of all household final consumption expenditure for the country. Information on gambling expenditure in Australia comes from three main sources. 1. Industry data. Gambling industries report turnover and expenditure for each state and territory government annually, and this information is collated and released publically as Australian Gambling Statistics (AGS). 2. Individual self-report surveys. Some specialist gambling surveys ask questions on money spent by individual respondents on a range of activities. 3. Household self-report surveys. Australian Bureau of Statistics Household Expenditure Surveys have included gambling expenditure at the household level in the self-report questions on spending. These different sources have their own strengths and weaknesses. Industry data provide objective measures for particular types of gambling and can be used to chart trends over time. However, they do not include any information on the characteristics of individuals who spend their money on gambling. Self-report information from specialist surveys can include a wide range of data on personal characteristics. However, self-reports can be inaccurate and it is well established that expenditure on certain gambling activities is substantially underreported and some is overreported. Household expenditure surveys are a potentially valuable means of assessing differences in expenditure both within and between.