Australian casinos lost $14m each day during lockdown

They say the house always wins, but not when the coronavirus is playing.

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

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

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

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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 per cent more on gambling than at the same time last year.

Payments to gambling businesses in June were up 50 per cent 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.

Email the reporter: msaunoko@nine.com.au

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 For immediate support call Lifeline on 13 11 14.