Over 80 per cent of Australians are known to gamble – the highest rate of participation on the planet, it has been revealed. 

A BBC report into the country’s gaming habits noted that the average weekly spend on gambling was £7, an amount above that spent on petrol and almost as much as was spent on clothing. 

The broadcasting organization also notes that over a fifth of the world’s gaming machines are now installed within the country. 

“There’s 99,723 poker machines in the state of New South Wales, more per capita than anywhere else on planet earth,” said former gambler Tom Simpson, speaking to the BBC. 

Earlier this week there was a blow for Australia-based gambling interests as James Packer, son of famous mogul Kerry Packer, had bids to install new casinos in both the UK and Russia thwarted. The UK super-casino was given to a different location, while new Russian legislation made Mr Packer’s other venture impossible to implement.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2007 at 9:53 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.