Australians are 2016’s top gambling losers

Americans lost the most amount of money gambling in 2016 but Australians retained their crown as the highest per capita gambling losers.

The Economist recently posted the latest year-end estimates by H2 Gambling Capital for gambling spending by both countries and individuals. The US led all countries with just under $117b in gambling losses, defined as stakes minus payouts, excluding expenses. The numbers don’t take into account illegal gambling, such as sports betting outside Nevada.

Runner-up gambling loser China could barely manage half the US total at $62.4b, and that’s counting contributions from Macau and Hong Kong. China had long been tipped to eventually surpass the US until Beijing began its corruption crackdown in 2014, which led to annual gambling losses shrinking in 2015, the first such occurrence since H2 Gambling Capital began compiling the stats in 2003.

Japan ranked third on the country list with $24.1b thanks to its pachinko industry, with the rest of the top-10 consisting of Italy ($19b), Australia ($18.3b), Britain ($18b), Canada ($12.4b), Germany ($11.2b), France ($10.4b) and Spain ($8.9b).