Outside In | Australians have become the world’s biggest losers thanks to this one addiction
Slot machines, along with other forms of wagering, have made Australians the world’s biggest gambling losers, costing an average US$1,000 per person per year
In the UK this week there was timely relief from the ridiculous debate over whether or not to stay in the European Union, and the surreal civil war in the opposition Labour Party over the eccentric leadership of Jeremy Corbin. It was called Leicester.
The Foxes – Leicester City football club – made football and betting history by winning the Premier League for the first time in their 132-year history. As 5000 to 1 outsiders, Leicester’s victory has created the most massive loss ever in Britain’s gambling industry – an estimated 50 million pounds (HK$561.77 million)
And across this mid sized Midland city of 300,000, at the Crucible, the world Mecca for snooker, Leicester-born Mark Selby battled Jiangsu-born Ding Junhui to become World Snooker Champion. Ding was the first Asian ever to reach the World Snooker Championship final, and was being followed live, deep into the night, by an estimated 100 million snooker fans in China.
As the city of Leicester celebrated this sudden and unfamiliar world attention, a combination of elation and incredulity had locals turning to supernatural influences for the Foxes’ and Mark Selby’s victories: everything in the city has gone miraculously well since the remains of Richard III, King of England from 1483-85 were unearthed in 2012 after being lost for five centuries. Richard was the last British king to die in battle – at Bosworth Field in Leicestershire – and his defeat ended the Plantagenet dynasty, and brought Henry Tudor to the English throne.
