Gambling in Victoria Falls 26.33% For 2019-20 Fiscal Year
Victoria residents love to gamble with pokies being the most-popular gambling format. The Victoria Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) runs regular reports into gambling-related expenditure within Victoria. The figures are available to view each month, but it recently revealed full-year data.
Gambling in Victoria fell by more than 26% for the 2019-20 financial year. The exact figure was 26.33%, which is a significant decrease in gambling losses. VCGLR’s figures show how much Victoria residents lost to state regulated gambling.
The amount gamblers from Victoria lost is nothing short of ridiculous. Latest figures show $1,988,190,589.84 was lost by gamblers in the territory. The true figure is likely more due to gambling on unregulated online casinos not being tracked.
Venue closures because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic played a major role in the reduced losses. VCGLR’s data show zero losses to anyone in Victoria for April, June, and July 2020.
| Month | Gambling Losses |
|---|---|
| July 2019 | $235,729,591 |
| August 2019 | $244,531,431 |
| September 2019 | $225,165,076 |
| October 2019 | $234,291,077 |
| November 2019 | $233,092,242 |
| December 2019 | $234,380,122 |
| January 2020 | $224,222,482 |
| February 2020 | $214,892,329 |
| March 2020 | $141,855,235 |
| April 2020 | $0 |
| May 2020 | $0 |
| June 2020 | $0 |
Breaking Down Victoria Gambling Figures
The yearly gambling losses in Victoria are huge. Victoria had 492 venues throughout the fiscal year. This fell to 491 in February 2020 and 490 in March 2020. The number of Electronic Gaming Machines remained relatively constant and was in the region of 26,400 machines.
City of Brimbank endured the largest losses. Its residents lost $101,974,224 in 2019-20. This is much less than the $142,904,248 lost in the previous year. City of Brimbank’s residents spent less on gambling in almost every month this year compared to last.
Only October 2019, November 2019, and February 2020 bucked this trend.
The City of Whittlesea showed similar decreases in overall losses. Its residents lost $91,066,519 compared to $120,706,256 last year. Gambling here was actually higher almost every month compared to 2018-19. March 2020 was the only muck that seriously bucked the trend. Losses for this month weighed in at $6,563,410, down from $10,169,594 for the previous period.
Top 10 Areas for Gambling Losses
| Area | Losses in 2019-20 |
|---|---|
| City of Brimbank | $101,974,223.76 |
| City of Casey | $98,000,778.71 |
| City of Whittlesea | $91,066,518.95 |
| City of Greater Geelong | $89,137,264.73 |
| City of Greater Dandenong | $87,430,092.38 |
| City of Hume | $85,935,114.72 |
| City of Monash | $80,541,622.78 |
| City of Wyndham | $75,755,561.99 |
| Shire of Mornington Peninsula | $63,053,341.44 |
| City of Kingston | $62,080,320.77 |
The Alliance For Gambling Reform estimated Victoria saved $421 million in only 57 days during the first lockdown. Losses continue to be limited in Victoria because of the current state of emergency.
Victoria continues to be hard hit by the ongoing COVID-19 virus. Australia hadn’t been affected as badly as other countries until the recent outbreak. Some 2,587 cases were reported on Week 6 to August 12, 2020. This is down on the 3,723 cases from Week 5 but is still very high.
The majority of new infections come from the 20-49 years demographic. Approximately 8% of recently diagnosed cases have resulted in the infected person being hospitalised.
Stage 4 restrictions are in place for metropolitan Melbourne. A curfew from 20:00 to 05:00 is in place with residents only allowed to leave their homes for work, essential health care or for safety reasons.
Stage 3 restrictions are in place for Regional Victoria, including Mitchell Shire. Victoria residents can no longer have visitors to their homes or visit others in their homes. The wearing of masks is mandatory whenever they leave home.
