Australians are increasingly using mobile phones to place a bet, although overall fewer are taking a punt than in recent years. The overall gambling eco-system whether via betting, casino gaming or buying lotteries and scratchies tickets will be explored in more detail in the coming days.

Overall some 3.4 million Australians placed a bet whether on a sporting event, horse racing, harness racing (trots), greyhound racing or some other event in the 12 months to March 2018. This is down from over 3.7 million Australians in the year to March 2012.

Among bettors a growing proportion are turning to the Internet to place their bets. Now 34.1% of Australians making a bet use the Internet, more than double the comparable figure of 15.7% from six years ago.

The growth is clearly being driven by the increasing use of mobile phones to place bets. Now over a fifth of Australian bettors, (or 22.7%) use their mobile phone compared to only 5.6% in 2012. This is a more than four-fold increase over the past six years.

In contrast, now 15.1% of Australians placing a bet use their computers to make bets, virtually unchanged from the 15.2% who used their computers six years ago.