Comparing the Australian love of gambling with the passion for gambling in the United States

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Australia has developed a reputation for its love of gambling. A quick search on the internet dispenses with doubts around this in seconds. Stats from 2018 reveal Australians spent on electronic gaming machines, lotto, and other gaming alone.

The economy did well out of it, too, thanks to the gambling industry. Five hundred and ninety million Australian dollars went into it, courtesy of the industry. If an operator were looking for a new market to enter, they could expect a very warm reception from Australia (as long as they have the appropriate licenses). 

Comparing habits between Australia and the United States

Per capita expenditure shows Australia’s passions when it comes to gambling lie most with electronic gaming machines, which punters can play on in most clubs, pubs, or casinos. Some venues host facilities for betting on horse racing and/or greyhound racing, too. 

Second to the electronic gaming machines comes racing, a sport that enjoys high prestige in Australia. A visit to a racecourse may be something of a social event or even of a fashion show, but placing a wager on the outcome of a race is a given. Not betting on an event while there would raise lots of eyebrows. The biggest, most prestigious event in the Australian horse racing calendar is the Melbourne Cup Carnival, which takes place at the Flemington Racecourse. 

Over in the US…

Meanwhile, the US has displayed more of a love-hate affair with gambling, something which has been done for some time now, but its attitude is becoming to change slightly. As of 2019, there were more than 400 commercial casinos in the US.

Las Vegas, Nevada, is the home of gambling in the US, and possibly of the world, of course. In a 2019 survey on gambling budget distribution amongst visitors to Vegas, 32% of the people visiting the casinos said they’d budget more than $600 for their visit, which was quite a high individual spend. Fourteen percent of Americans who visit “Sin City”, as Vegas is also known, do so purely to gamble.

One form of gambling that has really started to experience some popularity has been online.

In particular, America has demonstrated a clear love of sports betting and fantasy sports, the former accounting for a large share of online gambling. Revenue from sports betting in the US hit more than $900 billion in 2019, and in 2020, the market size of fantasy sports in the country was nearly $8 billion. There are around 45.9 million fantasy sports players in the US.

In some US states, playing at an online casino is also perfectly legal. Others are still taking a while to get comfortable with this type of gaming and legalize it, however. Given the popularity of online sports betting, which it’s possible to do in several states and still comply with the law, there’s likely to come a time when the US opens up more to online casinos.

The Australian love of “pokies”

In the US, you they call them “slots.” In the UK, they call them “fruit machines” or also “slots”.

Out here in Australia, they’re called “pokies”, abbreviated from “poker machines” and done so in line with the general national fondness for abbreviations — and players love them. 

How Australia came to call pokies as such is a slight mystery. It’s thought, however, that because one of the first games in the early Australian casinos was a “machine”, it became referred to as a poker machine. Then, as pokies became more popular, it became easier to just refer to all the machines in the room as “pokies.” 

The name is the only difference. Australian pokies are the same as pokies in other parts of the world where these types of games are popular.

Why are pokies so popular?

Part of their popularity lies in their sheer presence them. They’re so accessible. With the exception of in Western Australia, it’s possible to play on pokies not just in casinos, but also in pubs and social clubs. There you’ll find several of them. 

Playing on them isn’t especially demanding, either, and the games are highly engaging. The lights and the music all add to the experience, as does the fast pace of the games. Of course, the jackpots up for grabs are incredibly tempting. In just a few minutes, a player can become significantly better off than they were at the start of the game.

Fairness is another important factor. The outcomes on the pokies are completely random. Neither the player nor the establishment can determine them. The reels just stop where they stop. As a result, and although the outcome of the pokies is more likely to go in the establishment’s favor, players perceive the events in a game of pokies to be completely fair. This perception is unlike in some casino table games in which the casino is thought to have a certain level of built-in advantage, the house edge, over the player.

Australia has long loved a flutter. Whereas the nation prefers electronic gambling machines, the US has a preference for sports betting and fantasy sports, but there may come a time when it prefers playing online casino games. Time will tell.