Updated October 20, 2018 13:59:50

Photo: Gambling is more pervasive in Australia than it is in any other nation around the globe. (ABC News: Margaret Burin)

As the spring racing carnival kicks off this weekend with the Caulfield Cup, new figures show Australians are losing more money than ever on sports betting and racing.

The latest statistics, published this month, show that as a nation we bet $209 billion in 2016/17, an increase of 0.7 per cent over the previous year. Singapore is a distant second.

The data collected for the past 34 years and published annually by the Queensland Government Statistician's Office is considered the most comprehensive snapshot of gambling in Australia

It shows that, when averaged out across the entire adult population, Australians bet almost $11,000 per person, making us far and away the biggest betting nation on the planet.

"We see people who would not blink at spending $1,000 a bet," said Dr Kate Fennessy, the clinical lead at St Vincent's Hospital's Gambling Treatment Program in Sydney.

Photo: Despite a large rise in sports betting, pokie machines are still the most significant focus of day-to-day gambling in Australia. (Flickr: Carol Von Canon)

We bet. But, more importantly, we lose.

In total Australians lost $23.7 billion on all forms of gambling in 2016-17 — pokies, lotteries, casinos, racing and sports betting. That's $1,251 for every man and woman over the age of 18.

The biggest change is in sports betting, with a 15 per cent increase in the amount of money Australians lost from the previous year in that category.

We're also losing more money on the horses, up by almost 7 per cent.

*Source: Queensland Government Statistician's Office, Queensland Treasury

Those losses are overwhelmingly felt by a small number of problem gamblers.

"Most people are buying a lottery ticket or they're spending twenty bucks on the spring racing carnival, and the people who fall foul of this behaviour are the people who are spending vast amounts of money," Dr Fennessy said.

Gambling counsellors are increasingly seeing an increase in people addicted to the ease of gambling on sports and racing via their mobile phones, "almost exclusively young men," says Dr Chris Hunt, a clinical psychologist at the University of Sydney's Gambling Treatment and Research Centre.

Sydney carpenter Matt Portokalli is 27 — right in the middle of the demographic using sports betting apps. For him the attraction is the convenience of betting on your mobile phone.

"Like most things that run though apps, it's a more streamlined approach — you're just one or two clicks away from getting a bet on," he said.

Mr Portokalli says he only bets every couple of months on the AFL, NRL or maybe the big races such as the Melbourne Cup. But he's seen people get into trouble and have to take loans out to cover gambling losses.

Photo: Betting apps make the access to online sports gambling even easier than it previously was. (ABC)

Dr Hunt said around 35 per cent of his clients present with horse and sport betting problems.

"It's definitely the fastest growing area of gambling at the moment," Dr Hunt said.

Dr Hunt had one patient who lost half a million dollars in a single year, but he says a more typical amount "is in the tens of thousands".

Drs Hunt and Fennessy both say betting patterns are shifting, partly as a result of changing demographics but also because of intensive advertising.

"There's been that constant cross-promotion between sports and gambling," Dr Hunt said.

The three biggest Australian sport organisations — the AFL, the NRL and Cricket Australia — are all sponsored by gambling companies. It's no secret that sporting telecasts are littered with gambling ads.

Photo: Australia's relationship with gambling was brought in to question during the build-up to this year's Everest event at Randwick. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)

"I think we should be concerned about the availability of betting and the promotion of betting in sport," said Dr Fennessy.

"I'd really love people to be able to watch sport and not necessarily have a bet."

Sport betting and gambling on racing may be on the rise, but they are still a long way behind the pokies. We're pumping $168 billion through pokies and casinos (that includes those pokies in casinos).

Collectively we're losing $17 billion on electronic gaming and casinos. That's $894 for every adult Australian.

The question is why Australia still streets the field when it comes to the amount we spend on gambling?

The answer may not be a simple one, but if you talk to those who deal with problem gamblers, and those who gamble, they all give you one answer. As Dr Chris Hunt said, "It's been such an ingrained part of Australian culture for such a long time."

Topics: gambling, community-and-society, horse-racing, sport, australia

First posted October 20, 2018 06:34:18