Pubs and hotels ditching pokies, as NSW gambling losses soar
Gamblers’ losses on pokies in NSW are up a shocking 30 per cent despite fewer machines and venues, as the move to pokie-free pubs intensifies.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The pubs and clubs landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation, as hoteliers prioritise people over profits.
Poker machines — dubbed “culturally and socially unacceptable” — are slowly disappearing from New South Wales’ venues in favour of more family-friendly entertainment.
There were 4510 fewer machines and 199 fewer gaming venues operating across the state by the end of 2022, compared to the end of 2019, pre-pandemic.
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief executive Carol Bennett said communities’ dislike for pokie dens was being acknowledged by venues that offer other forms of entertainment, such as live music or bowling.
“New and innovative business models are being embraced by many venues which find that they are receiving positive public support,” she said.
“Of course, state governments want to be seen to be reducing poker machine caps but their reliance on pokies revenue has resulted in a slow pace of change.”
Odd Culture chief executive James Thorpe is among those on the Sydney hospitality scene challenging the traditional rule of poker machines.
His company’s two most recent buys – The Duke of Enmore and The Old Fitzroy – each had 13 gaming machines that were removed as part of the condition of purchase.
“All my staff and myself are passionate about food and beverage and live entertainment and we see machines as a weird boil growing on the side of that,” he said.
“There is nothing authentic about gaming machines. They are purpose built to prey on the weakest and most vulnerable in our community and we don’t want any part of that.”
Mr Thorpe plans to shake up the idea that the only thing to do in Sydney at 3am is either be on a dancefloor surrounded by security guards or sit in a bright gaming room and play pokies.
Odd Culture Newtown is open for dining into the early hours of the morning, and soon-to-be-opened bar Pleasure Club will offer live music until 4am, with the “first 4am license in Newtown in 100 years”.
Despite declining poker machine numbers, player losses continue to rise, according to the NSW Liquor and Gaming data.
About $4.2 billion was lost on machines in NSW hotels and clubs over the second half of 2022 alone – about $820 million more than the same period of 2019.
And these figures do not include casinos as they do not have to report in the same way – a fact the Alliance’s chief advocate Tim Costello called “extraordinary” given recent royal commissions investigating casinos and money laundering.
The NSW government recently introduced gambling reform policies including reduced cash feed-in limits for new poker machines; a ban on external signage that alludes to gambling; a lower cap on the number of poker machines in operation; and a small trial of cashless gaming. But Rev Costello said more needed to be done.
He called for the introduction of a universal cashless card across all machines, designed to minimise losses through set dollar limits, and address money laundering through reduced anonymity.
He also said restricted operating hours, restricted advertising, and changes to “deceptive” gaming machine tactics were needed – specifically “losses disguised as wins” with celebratory lights and music, and the illusion of “near misses” in the way the symbols presented on the screen.
A national self-exclusion register, BetStop, is set to launch August 21, allowing people to ban themselves from betting and gambling across the country for at least three months and as long as a lifetime.
LEADING THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Petersham Bowling Club is a pioneer of the anti-pokie movement.
The club has been pokie-free for 17 years, after making the then-unprecedented decision to remove all its machines.
Almost two decades on, the club is not only surviving but “thriving”, according to club president George Casti.
The local community took over the failing club in 2006, in a bid to revive it. Instead of updating their machines, as recommended by Clubs NSW, they removed them all together.
“We don’t want to exploit we want to actually engage… so we switched them off. And then we were loud and proud about it,” Mr Casti said.
“We just went you know what, we are pokie free, letting everyone know we’re stopping them and we’re getting rid of them.
“(When we did that) we really noticed an uptick … as we sort of tapped into something in the community that really wasn’t apparent, which was, most people find them abhorrent.
“People started to come to us out of area because they knew we didn’t have poker machines … they would say to us ‘it’s a safe place for me to come’.”
The community-led club has become one of the most popular watering holes for locals, both bowlers and non bowlers.
Originally published as Pubs and hotels ditching pokies, as NSW gambling losses soar
Splashdown! Day of disaster for Aussies in women’s America’s Cup
The women’s America’s Cup dream of an Australian crew is over after just two days of racing, a disastrous touchdown, a broken start penalty and erratic conditions. How it played out.
Council awarded more than $600k in compo battle over park, golf club
A Sydney council has secured a legal win against the NSW Government after disputing the amount of compensation it would receive for land forcibly acquired for a major tunnel project.