Page 108 - Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2013 Edition

106 Sponsored by Casino City’s iGaming Pocket Directory
AUSTRALIA
Australia has all the ingredients necessary for a major online gaming market.
Australia has a culture in which gaming is acceptable – an Australian government
report has calculated gambling losses as high as $19 billion (AUD) annually. It has
a population of 22.6 million people. There are more people in Australia than there
are in the Netherlands (16.7 million), Greece (10.8 million) or Portugal (10.9 million).
Australia’s broadband penetration rate is 24.6 percent, according to the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
By comparison, the United States broadband penetration rate is 27.7 percent. It’s 33.3
percent in the U.K., 24.5 percent in Spain and 22.2 percent in Italy. Australia also has a
thriving eCommerce business. Internet Retailer estimated Australia conducted $23.2
million of eCommerce in 2012.
Take all of those ingredients and mix them together and you create an excellent
environment for a thriving online gaming market. According to Casino City, there are
827 online casinos that accept play from Australia, 344 online sportsbooks and 418
online poker rooms. That’s no surprise in a country known for loving poker and sports
betting. The Crown Melbourne is home to the Aussie Millions, the annual poker series
which began as the Australian Poker Championship in 1997, and has been regularly
attracting the world’s best players since 2005. And according to IBISWorld, the sports
betting market is expected to reach $3.5 billion in gross gaming revenue this year.
AUSTRALIA