The Biggest Gambling Losers?

The Biggest Gambling Losers?

Gambling fans know that losing is a necessary part of the game at times, no matter whether your game of choice is online blackjack, sportsbetting, or bingo, but according to a recent article in the Economist there are definitely some bigger losers than others when it comes to gambling.

Australia takes the dubious crown of the nation with the biggest losers when the average gambling loss per adult is calculated, checking in with a hefty loss of nearly $1,300 per adult citizen. Singapore (where the first two casinos -- the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa -- just opened within the last few years) isn't far behind Australia with an average loss of over $1,100, with Ireland coming in a distant third.

While the US is one of the largest gambling markets in the world, it doesn't crack the top ten list of countries with the largest average gambling losses. Nordic countries rank surprisingly highly (with Finland, Norway, and Sweden all in the top ten) and Canada checking in at fourth; perhaps a side effect of very long winters with little to do except spend plenty of time gambling.

Just focusing on the losses can paint a gloomy picture of gambling at casinos in Las Vegas and Macau and online casinos, but that's just one side of the story; the gambling industry is responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs around the globe and pumps billions into economies of many different countries.

It might seem counterintuitive at first glance but in some cases gambling revenues have actually increased in recent years as countries around the world cope with struggling economies. Las Vegas continues to struggle as it tries to cope with an overabundance of hotels and casinos that sprang up in the years before the global recession but business is booming in other areas of the world such as Macau, which is poised to pass Las Vegas as far as total annual revenues from gambling.