More people gamble, but what about the amount lost?

I refer to the article “Gambling participation rate up in Singapore: Survey” (Channel NewsAsia, Mar 26).

It states that “The proportion of people in Singapore who gambled last year has gone up from three years ago, reversing a decline over the last decade, according to a survey by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG).

More than half or 52 per cent of Singapore residents aged 18 and above participated in at least one form of gambling activity in the last year, up eight percentage points from 44 per cent in 2014, the survey found”.

In this connection, according to the article “The world’s biggest gamblers” (The Economist, Feb 9, 2017) – “betting losses per resident adult there (Australia) amounted to $990 last year. That is 40% higher than Singapore, the runner-up, and around double the average in other Western countries”.

You can see from the charts above that Singapore is ranked number 2 in the world for “Loss per resident adult, biggest gamblers in 2016, $”, at about US$650; and for “Total losses by country” – US$5.9 billion.

Leong Sze Hian