Data reveals NSW’s pokie hotspots and where the most money is lost
This is where NSW pokie players have lost almost $1 million an hour. Search and check our interactive table to see if it’s where you live and how your suburb compares.
NSW
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Punters are losing almost $22 million a day on poker machines in New South Wales’ pubs and clubs – an average of about $900,000 an hour.
While the largest losses have been recorded in parts of Western Sydney, Murray River in the Southern Riverina is NSW’s slots hot spot, with roughly one gaming machine for every 13 people, according to Liquor and Gaming NSW.
NSW’s hotels and clubs recorded a combined gambling revenue – money played minus prizes won – of $1.9 billion over their respective first three-month reporting periods for the year.
Revenue was up on the same period of 2019, pre-pandemic, despite there now being about 4000 fewer gaming machines in the state.
Additional money was lost by players on casino pokies, but this is not included in the data as casinos report revenue in a different way.
Canterbury-Bankstown local government area (LGA) recorded the largest hotel and club poker machine loss, reporting $167,532,000 over three months.
It was followed by Fairfield LGA, with $162,146,000.
Meanwhile, Murray River had the highest concentration of pokies for any single LGA, with a population of 12,850 given access to 998 machines – one for every 13 residents.
By comparison, NSW as a whole had roughly one hotel or club poker machine for every 93 people and Sydney LGA had one for every 59 people.
University of Sydney Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic director Sally Gainsbury said people continued to gamble during tough financial periods such as high inflation even though it seemed counterintuitive.
“Gambling is very accessible and the idea of a jackpot can be increasingly alluring to people in situations of financial distress,” the psychology professor said.
“(Another big reason people are gambling now) is that the mental health consequences that are coming out of Covid are very acute and we know that there is a very high correlation between mental health comorbidity and gambling problems – that when you’re experiencing anxiety or distress and other mental health issues, gambling is often a maladaptive coping mechanism.”
Professor Gainsbury said industry needed to take more responsibility for minimising gambling harm.
“Particularly where there are gaming machines, they needs to be dedicated staff, not just to make sure those rooms are clean, but to have conversations and check on customers,” she said.
“Venues should also be recording any instances there are of observable signs of gambling problems.”
Signs may include spending more than three hours gambling in a day, emotional outbursts, or comments such as “I really needed that win today”.
Professor Sainsbury supported the use of facial recognition technology that identified problem gamblers trying to enter a gaming area.
In South Australia, venues authorised to operate 30 or more gaming machines must have approved facial recognition technology installed to identify barred patrons.
Similar solutions have been proposed in other states and territories.
Anybody negatively affected by gambling can contact Gambler’s Help for free and confidential online, phone and face-to-face services. Call 1800 858 858 (24/7) or visit gamblershelp.com.au
TOP 10 LOSING LGAs
Money lost on hotel and club poker machines over three months.
(Combining Jan-March reporting period for hotels with March-May reporting period for clubs, and excluding LGAs with fewer than five gaming venues)
Canterbury-Bankstown: $167,532,043
Fairfield: $162,146,398
Cumberland: $110,757,512
Blacktown: $88,885,766
Central Coast: $78,187,223
Sydney: $77,321,582
Penrith: $55,634,014
Georges River: $55,598,834
Parramatta: $55,592,210
Campbelltown: $50,506,749
TOP 10 SLOTS HOT SPOTS
Concentration of hotel and club poker machines, by LGA
(Excludes LGAs with fewer than five gaming venues)
Murray River: 1 machine for every 13 people
Federation: 1 for every 17
Eurobodalla: 51
Tweed: 54
Fairfield: 54
Griffith: 59
Sydney: 59
Newcastle: 62
Bega Valley: 65
Shoalhaven: 68
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