File this one under “F” for “flimflam.” In eye-popping headlines, some online gambling industry content providers – and yes, that is the appropriate title for folks clearly applying no critical thinking whatsoever to faceless reportage of happy-faced good news – have been giddily announcing the exciting new finding by an organization which will go unnamed here.

To wit: A representative headline on the “story” reads, “Study Shows 10% of Internet Time Spent Gambling Online.” Wow, eh? Such a figure would indeed be serious evidence of the “surge in online gambling” similar outlets are “reporting” at present.

Here at LiveCasinoDirect, we’d prefer to add a little sobriety to these numbers and consider a few slightly more reputable sources. According to a Nielsen study of April 2010, Australian citizens – known as some of the world’s most devoted gamblers – spent about 7-1/3 hours per month … on social networking websites. The average social networker worldwide was on such sites some six hours that month – and this was a 66% increase in time spent year-on-year.

Since the 10% statistic represents at least a fivefold growth over a couple years ago, internet casino growth is outpacing the still-exploding Facebook by a factor of almost two … funny how the mainstream media hasn’t even noticed.

Nielsen’s year-end survey of Australian habits concluded that the average Aussie with broadband access spent just under 20 hours *per week* online. Were the ballyhooed “study” correct, this makes an easy calculation of eight hours per month spent gambling – and that’s just an average. In a study undertaken by Southern Cross University in 2010 stated that 30% of Australians over 16 gambled online that year.

Since the over-16s represent just about two-thirds of the Oz population according to the 2010 census, this means that just about 20% of all Australians gambled at an internet casino – this also means (using the fanciful 10% statistic) – that the average Aussie who plays online slots or other games *at all* is actually spending about 10 hours per week at the internet casino.

Now, wouldn’t it be just a tad shocking to discover that seemingly normal people are spending *57% of non-working, non-sleeping time at online casinos*? Clearly, this industry needs a few writers. Or even someone with any capacity for debunking clearly bogus statistics.