{"id":16746,"date":"2021-04-09T15:26:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T15:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=16746"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:29:19","slug":"australia-record-spend-on-poker-machines-in-northern-territory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-record-spend-on-poker-machines-in-northern-territory","title":{"rendered":"Australia: record spend on poker machines in Northern Territory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A record amount was spent on poker machines when they reopened after lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- A record amount of money was spent on poker machines<\/strong> in the Northern Territory of Australia after the Covid-19 lockdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade<\/strong>, poker machine player losses reached AU$25m (US$19.03m) in July 2020,<\/strong> a 52 per cent up from the prior-year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although\u00a0other jurisdictions in Australia also reported increased player losses on poker machines<\/strong>, none were close to the record set in the Northern Territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase caught the attention of the Alliance for Gambling Reform<\/strong>, which has recently relaunched its campaign to end sports betting ads<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reverend Tim Costello<\/strong>, chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, linked the record to higher welfare payments<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Matt Stevens<\/strong>, a gambling researcher at the Menzies School of Health Research said: “When people have extra money, often they’ll have a bet on it and see if they can double it.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news comes after the government of Victoria announced\u00a0it would examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on gambling<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A record amount was spent on poker machines when they reopened after lockdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Northern Territory, Australia, reported record poker machine player losses of AU$25m in July 2020, a 52% year-on-year increase, following the easing of COVID-19 lockdowns. This surge, attributed by some to increased welfare payments, has drawn attention from gambling reform advocates and prompted the Victorian government to examine the pandemic's broader impact on gambling. The data signals significant shifts in player behavior and potential regulatory implications.","focusai_entities":"Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Alliance for Gambling Reform, Reverend Tim Costello, Dr Matt Stevens, Menzies School of Health Research, Government of Victoria","focusai_location":"Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), product_ux (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Response Outlook","query":"What specific regulatory actions or policy reviews are anticipated from the Northern Territory government or federal authorities in response to these unprecedented player loss figures?"},{"label":"Operator Risk Assessment","query":"How are major land-based and online operators in Australia re-evaluating their responsible gambling frameworks and compliance strategies given the heightened scrutiny and potential for increased harm minimization mandates?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,28,158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-casino-news","category-slider-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16746"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16764,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16746\/revisions\/16764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}