Australia ranked the fifth worst-hit casino sector worldwide

In a new global casino industry study, Australia was ranked the fifth worst-hit casino sector in the world, with Nevada unsurprisingly topping the list with $46.2 million in daily losses.

The new study has found that the casino industry in Australia lost a staggering $14.2 million every day its doors were closed during the pandemic.

The study calculated that, on average, Australia's 20 casinos together usually rake in an eye-watering $7152 every 60 seconds, 9 News reports.

Japan's pachinko parlors (daily losses of $30.7m) and Singapore ($27.5m) ranked second and third on the list.

Fifty-eight destinations around the world with the highest revenue from casinos were explored in the Bestcasino study.

Although casinos may have been hit by the closures, Australians in lockdown continued to gamble online.

In June, NAB transaction data showed Australians were spending 62.7 percent more on gambling than at the same time last year.

Payments to gambling businesses in June were up 50 percent compared to the start of the year.
"Some gambling certainly appears to have increased, which is unsurprising," Dr. Charles Livingstone, head of the Gambling and Social Determinants unit at Monash University, said.

In the UK, many bookmakers and gambling sites stopped advertising in April for six weeks during the lockdown.