Coronavirus Australia: Gambling, streaming buck downward trend

Social distancing has fuelled an online gambling and Netflix binge amid a massive plunge in household spending, a NAB survey says.

Netflix is a winner out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Social distancing has fuelled an online gambling and Netflix binge, amid a massive plunge in household spending across almost every category, according to a National Australia Bank analysis.

Spending on internet gambling surged almost 20 per cent in the four weeks to April 19, as households across the nation were compelled to stay at home to curb the spread of the coronavirus, according to an analysis of NAB’s retail and business customers that paints a grim economic picture.

“Don’t ask me what the gambling is, exactly. But for it to show up, it’s being spent in Australia in Australian dollars,” NAB chief economist Alan Oster said.

The data, the most comprehensive analysis of business and consume­r spending and receipts yet published during the lockdown, also found supermarkets were now struggling after an initial stampede in March.

“Supermarkets were holding everything else up until about March 23, but food retailing has started to come back down,’’ Mr Oster said. “The data shows ­dramatic falls in consumption-based spending and business payment inflows post-COVID-19 containment meas­ures, with the pace of decline continuing to accelerate quite rapidl­y across many industries,” the bank said in a statement.

Overall, consumption spending fell by 19.5 per cent since the start of the year, including a 23 per cent fall in Victoria, more than any other state. Consumption fell least in Tasmania, down 15 per cent.

“Relative to the previous week, the rate of spending decline has ­accelerated in all states and territ­ories, and now ranges from 9.4 per cent in Western Australia to 7.2 per cent in the Northern Territ­ory,” the statement said

NAB has been sharing the analysis with federal and state governments for weeks to help authorities work out how bad the downturn will be.

Internet publishing and broadcasting, which includes online television and movies, enjoyed a 30 per cent increase over the four-week period, more than any other subsector, The data also shows that ­merchants in all sectors were ­experiencing large falls in income, including mining, which was down 44 per cent.