Gambling in Australia’s Cost-of-living Crisis: The Black Hole in Household Budgets
Summary
The cost-of-living crisis is hitting Australian households hard – high interest rates, record increases in the costs for essential goods and services and stagnant wages growth are putting unprecedented pressure on weekly budgets.
Governments at all levels have responded decisively with a range of actions to help families and other households manage these cost pressures – including tax cuts, utilities bill relief, assistance with health care costs and direct payments for low-income households.
But there is a hidden, unspoken black hole in household budgets that government cost-of-living policies has failed to address. This black hole is gambling losses.
Findings
Gambling losses amount to $1,527 for every adult in Australia with devastating financial impact on families. It is a hole in the bucket that continually drains critical household savings.
This new research from Equity Economics in partnership with the Alliance for Gambling Reform and Wesley Mission shows that while the costs of essential goods and services have been rising, and real wages have been declining – gambling losses have also been rising. In fact, household expenditure on gambling has risen faster than spending on utilities, faster than spending on education and faster than spending on housing.
So large are Australia’s annual gambling losses ($31.5bn) that they now eclipse what governments spend on aged care ($28.3bn) and rivals that spent on the National Disability Insurance Scheme ($35.2bn).
This report calls on governments to help households plug the hole – urgent action is required to reduce the impact of gambling on Australian families in this cost-of-living crisis. Evidence-based regulatory reforms would have minimal cost to the budget, would be non- inflationary and would provide significant, lasting cost-of-living relief.
Read the full report
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