Sydney bowlo dumps its pokies, profits soar 700 per cent

The team behind a Sydney bowling club has said its transition away from pokies has paid bigger dividends than the slots ever did.

A struggling Sydney club that made the tough decision to tear out all of its pokies has watched spirits and profits surge ever since.

The board behind Petersham Bowling Club, in Sydney’s inner west, says the club has grown from near-destitution back into the black after removing its pokies in 2007.

Club president George Catsi said the shift from pokies 16 years ago, a staple of many NSW bowls clubs, to live entertainment and other events had paid better dividends than the slots ever did.

“We’re a local community who took over our bowling club because it was struggling,” he told news.com.au.

Petersham Bowling Club President George Catsi. Picture: Bob Barker

“They had pokies, which wasn’t saving them. So they don’t guarantee you a lifeline. You have to still work the room, you know, to get people through the club.”

Mr Catsi, who is not a bowler, says turnover has increased by 700 per cent.

“I came at it from a position of, this is a valuable space that’s here, the club owns the land. They could have developed it,” he said.

“So I suppose we came in on a platform of engagement, and we were feeling that the club wasn’t engaging with its community.”

He said clubs that rely on pokies and are not open to welcoming and accommodating their wider communities are “doomed”, and it was easy for managers to fall into the trap of relying on the slots for income.

“Is it lazy income now? Yes, it is. Absolutely. Because it’s just embedded as part of your income stream, and you don’t want to let go of it,” Mr Catsi said.

“It’s also governments … they’re also addicted to the gambling money.”

Petersham Bowling Club was one of the first in NSW to get rid of pokies in favour of making it a community-friendly events hub. Picture: Instagram

In the last calendar week alone, the club has hosted trivia, life drawing, poetry, two music gigs, Pinot and Picasso, a community radio show, and of course, Sunday bowls.

“You’ve got to create a place that people go. This place is such a great vibe, and it’s got such interesting things going. People will fight for that,” Mr Catsi said.

“This is what clubs should be – they should be hubs. My problem with a lot of other clubs is that they forgot that.”

Pokies are poised to be among the big-ticket issues for the upcoming NSW election on March 25.

Both major parties have vowed to make considerable changes but have ruled out the total removal of the slots.

The NSW Labor Party has committed to decreasing the number of poker machines and introducing a mandatory trial of cashless gaming as a countermeasure against the proposed reforms by the Perrottet government.

Premier Dominic Perrottet speaking to media in February after he met with Police Commissioner Karen Webb to discuss the NSW Crime Commission’s report into money laundering via gaming machines. Picture: Gaye Gerard

In early February, the NSW Liberal and Nationals Government unveiled a detailed strategy to ensure that all poker machines are converted to cashless systems by December 31, 2028.

The coalition said it directly responded to the NSW Crime Commission’s investigation into money laundering associated with electronic gaming machines.

“We address the number one recommendation from the Crime Commission, and we will end money laundering in pubs and clubs, while protecting jobs and supporting communities,” Premier Dominic Perrottet said.

“We will also ensure people using poker machines receive more support, if they want it, to deal with problem gambling.”

It is estimated in 2022, the 89,000 pokies in clubs and pubs across NSW generated approximately $7.5 billion in profits.

The Greens have proposed a pokies’ “super tax” which they estimate would generate an extra $3.4 billion in revenue over five years.

They also plan to create a Poker Machine Reparations fund to invest in communities affected by gambling. And they want to introduce a mandatory state-run cashless gambling card with harm-reduction measures while aiming for a total pokies phase-out in pubs and clubs over five to 10 years.

“Gambling is out of control in NSW,” Greens MP and gambling harm reduction spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said.

“Our state has nearly half of all of Australia’s poker machines and loses more per person to gambling than anywhere else in the world.”

Originally published as Sydney bowlo dumps its pokies, profits soar 700 per cent