NSW pokie pubs made $92m in pre-tax profit

The last financial year brought US$92 million in pre-tax profits for top Sydney pokie pubs.

Australia.- New data revealed that owners of the most important New South Wales pokie pubs made US$92 million in pre-tax-profit from machines last financial year. The biggest earning was approximately US$200k a week.

As local news outlet The Sydney Morning Herald informed, the top 25 hotels collected US$200 million in poker machine profit during the 2016-2017 financial year, which means US$79 million worth of tax take for the NSW government. The NSW Legislative Council documents list poker machine profits for each pub but doesn’t name them individually or reveal individual figures. The Liquor and Gaming NSW said that the top scorer for the first six months of 2017 was El Cortez Hotel at Canley Heights, which is owned by Redcape Hotel Group.

On the other hand, NSW Greens MLC Justin Field criticised the numbers and asked for $1 bet limits as he believes that the gambling activity causes “immeasurable harm to people, families and communities.” And he added: “The $252.97 million lost to addictive pokies in the top 25 hotels is no accident, these machines are designed for addiction and making profits from people and communities. The vested interests in the hotel industry continue to push to wind back regulations on gambling. It’s long past time government reined them in and put people before pokies profits.”

NSW Racing Minister Paul Toole said that the government is considering reforms to the Local Impact Assessment scheme, transparency of gaming machine information and responsible gaming initiatives. “The government will be considering all the evidence during this process, not just numbers cherry-picked by the Greens. The Greens are opposed to all forms of gambling for ideological reasons, and they should just come clean and admit that,” he added.