The global gambling industry generated $385 billion in profit in 2016, data provided by betting and gaming market intelligence firm H2 Gambling Capital and cited by The Economist showed. What is more, online gambling was the fastest growing sector last year. Proceeds from iGaming products accounted for 11% of the bulk.
A chart by The Economist providing information about the biggest gambling losses by country once again demonstrated the immensity of the US gambling market. The nation was the one to top the full-year losses chart for 2016. Here it is important to note that losses stand for the amounts staked by gambling customers minus payouts.
Americans collectively lost the total amount of $116.9 billion last year. Services offered by brick-and-mortar casinos were the most popular gambling products among US customers. Lotteries were also among the biggest contributors to the nation’s gambling industry.
The US gambling landscape may change significantly in the years to come, provided that multiple industry re-regulation efforts in a number of states succeed. It is believed that there is a huge demand for online gambling and sports betting offering in the US, and legislators from here and there have been pushing for the legalization of these particular sectors.
China, including its special administrative region Macau, lost $62.4 billion on gambling last year. The aforementioned figure could have been larger, if it had not been for a gambling crackdown initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping that resulted in a withdrawal of high value players from Macau, known to be Asia’s and the world’s largest gambling hub at the moment.
Japan, Italy, and Australia comprised top 5 of the global gambling losses chart (or the global gambling gross win chart, as seen from the industry’s perspective) with losses of $24.1 billion, $19 billion, and $18.3 billion, respectively.
Australia, which has proved to be a highly lucrative market over the past several years, topped another chart – the one for the biggest losses per resident adult. An annual average of $990 per adult gambling customer was lost last year, according to H2 Gambling Capital. Slot machines, or pokies as they are known Down Under, were the most popular gambling product last year.
Singapore, with its two large integrated casino resorts, was listed as a runner-up in the losses per resident adult chart. Gambling customers lost an average of close to $700 per resident adult in 2016. Ireland came next with an average loss of around $500 per resident adult. Online gambling was the activity Irish gambling customers lost the most on last year. Finland and the United States were the other two countries listed in top 5.
