Nations With the Largest Gambling Losses
Mention gambling and glitzy images of Las Vegas come to mind. But you'll be surprised to know Americans are not the world's biggest gamblers. In fact, the world’s biggest gambling nations include plenty of unlikely candidates.
The rankings are based on data from H2 Gambling Capital , a consultancy based in London. They take into account average gaming losses (the amount bet and never recovered) in a year divided by the adult population in over 200 countries. The numbers include money lost on all types of betting including horse racing, poker machines, lotteries and casinos during 2010.
Read on to find out the countries with the biggest losers and the boldest gamblersrecovered) in a year divided by the adult population in over 200 countries. The numbers include money lost on all types of betting including horse racing, poker machines, lotteries and casinos during 2010.
Read on to find out the countries with the biggest losers and the boldest gamblers. .
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10. Spain
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $418
Gaming was legalized in Spain in only 1977 and gambling of pure chance (slot machines) was legalized in 1981. Spaniards love to bet on everything from football to cards to the lottery
9. Greece
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $420
Greece boasts of one of the most legendary gamblers of all times — Nicholas "Nick the Greek" Dandolos. He died almost penniless at the age of 83 in 1966, having lost all his winnings, which were estimated to be worth almost $500 million in 2009 in inflation-adjusted terms.
8. Norway
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $448
Lotto, scratch cards, slot machines and football bets are Norwegians’ favored ways to gamble. In a survey carried out by the government in 2008, 88 percent Norwegians confessed to being lifetime gamblers. It also found that gambling addictions occurred most frequently among young men who had previously played on gaming machines.
7. Hong Kong
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $503
Casinos are outlawed in Hong Kong, but the world’s biggest gambling center, Macau is just an hour’s boat ride away, and in the first-quarter of 2011, half a million Hong Kongers visited Macau.
6. Italy
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $517
Italians’ favorite gambling activity is to play electronic gaming machines such as slots. According to a 2010 study conducted by strategy and business advisory firm MAG Consulenti Associati, electronic gaming machines generated nearly half of Italy’s total gaming revenues in the first half of 2010. During just that six-month period, .
5. Finland
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $553
Forty-one percent of adult Finns gamble every week, according to a study by Finland's Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in 2007. The minimum age for playing on a slot machine has just been raised to 18 in July 2011, from just 15 previously. <table id="ssThinTbl" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td id="ssThinTblTop" valign="middle">
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4. Canada
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $568
Over 75 percent of adult Canadians gambled on some form or the other, last year. The biggest gamblers come from the potash-rich province of Saskatchewan, which has an average gambling revenue per person (aged 18 and above) of $841, against a national average of $527. <table id="ssThinTbl" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td id="ssThinTblTop" valign="middle">
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3. Ireland
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $588
Ireland’s casino industry is currently entirely unregulated because the country is governed by an outdated Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1956. The law allows only bona fide members’ club to provide casino services.
2. Singapore
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $1,174
Singapore opened its first casino a little over a year ago but it’s already the world’s third largest-gaming center after Macau and Las Vegas and it’s set to overtake Vegas this year.
The decision to allow casinos to be built in the city-state has created plenty of worries that Singaporeans may end up getting hooked to gambling. The government has tried to discourage local gamblers by imposing an entry fee of S$100 ($80.50) for citizens who want to enter a casino.
Authorities have also implemented a "Family Exclusion Order," that allows a family to ban relatives from visiting casinos.
But the measures have done little to dampen enthusiasm for gambling. Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, has forecast that Singapore's gaming revenue could hit $6.4 billion in 2011, outpacing Las Vegas, which earned $5.8 billion in 2010.
1. Australia
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $1,288
You know a nation is crazy about gambling when a gaming company offers people a chance to bet on whether the central bank will raise interest rates or not.
Besides that, Australia is the only place in the world that allows online wagering on sport but prevents gamblers from using the internet to place bets during live games. But that may soon change as the government has agreed to review laws following intensive lobbying from the country’s major sports bodies.
Slot machines — known locally as pokies — are by far Australia’s favorite game, with an estimated 75-80 percent of problem gamblers hooked on them, according to the country’s Productivity Commission.
New South Wales, with 100,000 poker machines accounts for half of the nation's total number of poker machines. According to the state’s Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing, 935 gamblers registered themselves to be banned from casinos between 2006-2010, but were caught 1,249 times for breaching their own ban.
By Geraldine Tan
For additional text visit CNBC.com
.
Mention gambling and glitzy images of Las Vegas come to mind. But you'll be surprised to know Americans are not the world's biggest gamblers. In fact, the world’s biggest gambling nations include plenty of unlikely candidates.
The rankings are based on data from H2 Gambling Capital , a consultancy based in London. They take into account average gaming losses (the amount bet and never recovered) in a year divided by the adult population in over 200 countries. The numbers include money lost on all types of betting including horse racing, poker machines, lotteries and casinos during 2010.
Read on to find out the countries with the biggest losers and the boldest gamblersrecovered) in a year divided by the adult population in over 200 countries. The numbers include money lost on all types of betting including horse racing, poker machines, lotteries and casinos during 2010.
Read on to find out the countries with the biggest losers and the boldest gamblers. .
View attachment 12501
<table id="ssThinTbl" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td id="ssThinTblTop" valign="middle">
</td></tr></tbody></table>
10. Spain
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $418
Gaming was legalized in Spain in only 1977 and gambling of pure chance (slot machines) was legalized in 1981. Spaniards love to bet on everything from football to cards to the lottery
9. Greece
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $420
Greece boasts of one of the most legendary gamblers of all times — Nicholas "Nick the Greek" Dandolos. He died almost penniless at the age of 83 in 1966, having lost all his winnings, which were estimated to be worth almost $500 million in 2009 in inflation-adjusted terms.
8. Norway
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $448
Lotto, scratch cards, slot machines and football bets are Norwegians’ favored ways to gamble. In a survey carried out by the government in 2008, 88 percent Norwegians confessed to being lifetime gamblers. It also found that gambling addictions occurred most frequently among young men who had previously played on gaming machines.
7. Hong Kong
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $503
Casinos are outlawed in Hong Kong, but the world’s biggest gambling center, Macau is just an hour’s boat ride away, and in the first-quarter of 2011, half a million Hong Kongers visited Macau.
6. Italy
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $517
Italians’ favorite gambling activity is to play electronic gaming machines such as slots. According to a 2010 study conducted by strategy and business advisory firm MAG Consulenti Associati, electronic gaming machines generated nearly half of Italy’s total gaming revenues in the first half of 2010. During just that six-month period, .
5. Finland
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $553
Forty-one percent of adult Finns gamble every week, according to a study by Finland's Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in 2007. The minimum age for playing on a slot machine has just been raised to 18 in July 2011, from just 15 previously. <table id="ssThinTbl" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td id="ssThinTblTop" valign="middle">
</td></tr></tbody></table>
4. Canada
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $568
Over 75 percent of adult Canadians gambled on some form or the other, last year. The biggest gamblers come from the potash-rich province of Saskatchewan, which has an average gambling revenue per person (aged 18 and above) of $841, against a national average of $527. <table id="ssThinTbl" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td id="ssThinTblTop" valign="middle">
</td></tr></tbody></table>
3. Ireland
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $588
Ireland’s casino industry is currently entirely unregulated because the country is governed by an outdated Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1956. The law allows only bona fide members’ club to provide casino services.
2. Singapore
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $1,174
Singapore opened its first casino a little over a year ago but it’s already the world’s third largest-gaming center after Macau and Las Vegas and it’s set to overtake Vegas this year.
The decision to allow casinos to be built in the city-state has created plenty of worries that Singaporeans may end up getting hooked to gambling. The government has tried to discourage local gamblers by imposing an entry fee of S$100 ($80.50) for citizens who want to enter a casino.
Authorities have also implemented a "Family Exclusion Order," that allows a family to ban relatives from visiting casinos.
But the measures have done little to dampen enthusiasm for gambling. Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, has forecast that Singapore's gaming revenue could hit $6.4 billion in 2011, outpacing Las Vegas, which earned $5.8 billion in 2010.
1. Australia
Gaming Losses Per Adult: $1,288
You know a nation is crazy about gambling when a gaming company offers people a chance to bet on whether the central bank will raise interest rates or not.
Besides that, Australia is the only place in the world that allows online wagering on sport but prevents gamblers from using the internet to place bets during live games. But that may soon change as the government has agreed to review laws following intensive lobbying from the country’s major sports bodies.
Slot machines — known locally as pokies — are by far Australia’s favorite game, with an estimated 75-80 percent of problem gamblers hooked on them, according to the country’s Productivity Commission.
New South Wales, with 100,000 poker machines accounts for half of the nation's total number of poker machines. According to the state’s Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing, 935 gamblers registered themselves to be banned from casinos between 2006-2010, but were caught 1,249 times for breaching their own ban.
By Geraldine Tan
For additional text visit CNBC.com
.
