Australia: player losses on pokies reach US$9.7bn in the past year

Australian poker machine losses in clubs and pubs rose by 13.7 per cent from the 2018/2019 fiscal year.

Australia.- Analysis by the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University on behalf of the Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR) has reported that player losses on slot machines in Australia reached AU$14.5bn (US$9.7bn) during the last fiscal year. This is 13.7 per cent more than in the 2018/2019 fiscal year, previous to the Covid-19 pandemic. Players incurred an average loss of AU$4,417 annually.

South Australia experienced the most significant rise in with a 34.6 per cent increase to AU$917m. Queensland followed with a 33.6 per cent increase to AU$3.24bn, while New South Wales (NSW) saw a 23.7 per cent rise to over AU$8bn. 

In Victoria, losses by poker machine users increased by 12 per cent, reaching just over AU$1bn. Tasmania registered the smallest growth at 10.5 per cent, totalling AU$190m. Western Australia does not host poker machines in its clubs and pubs.

NSW, with over 87,000 poker machines in clubs and pubs, saw average losses of AU$6,725 during the last fiscal year, higher than the national average. In Victoria and Queensland, poker machine losses averaged AU$3,811 and AU$3,589, respectively.

Carol Bennett, chief executive of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said: “Australians already lose more to poker machines per capita than any other country in the world, these staggering new loss figures show an industry that is out of control. And these figures don’t even count poker machine losses in our casinos.”

The news comes as legislation has been introduced to ban the use of credit cards for online betting in Australia country following calls from anti-gambling groups and the Australian Banking Association (ABA). Also this year, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) launched BetStop, the nationwide self-exclusion register.