gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

increase has occurred since the early to mid 1990s. Also similar to Total Net Revenue, there has
been a decrease in per adult expenditure since its peak in 2008.
$1,200
$1,000
$800
$600
$400
$200
$0
1970
1972
Figure 17: Per Adult Net Gambling Expenditure (in 2010 dollars)
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
To put these figures in their proper context, however, it is important to know how much money
this represents relative to available income, and to also make adjustments for the increases in
after tax income that have occurred in the past 40 years. Thus, Figure 18 illustrates per adult
Albertan gambling expenditure as a percentage of average after tax income of individual
Albertan tax filers as reported by Statistics Canada. After tax income for individuals was not
available for 2008 to 2010.
The same basic pattern emerges in terms of there being a significant increase in percentage of
income spent on gambling over time, with most of the major increases occurring during the
early to mid 1990s. However, two additional findings of importance are that a) average adult
percentage of after tax income spent on gambling has not really changed since the mid 1990s,
and b) the percentage of after tax income spent on gambling in recent years (2.5% to 3.0%) is
not that large.
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
95