Australia boasts nearly 200,000 poker machines – an astounding 18% of global pokies! NSW leads with the most machines located in pubs and clubs with 92,818 located there – contributing an estimated annual revenue of more than $2 billion to NSW state budget through point of consumption tax on gambling losses plus overspending of $1.6 billion on harm reduction initiatives.
NSW residents are projected to lose over $10 billion gambling by 2022 – double what was lost just three years prior. As such, NSW has been dubbed “pokies capital of Australia” by the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce; even more alarming when taken together with cost-of-living crises and major job cuts.
According to the NSW Crime Commission, criminals launder billions through poker machines every year, profits coming from illegal activities like drug dealing, gangland turf wars, human trafficking and sex work. An estimated 10% of punter losses may be attributable to money laundering via EGMs; thus posing a hidden epidemic that threatens the integrity of NSW society as a whole.
EGMs have long been a source of contention in Australia. Beyond money-laundering concerns, EGMs may cause addiction, depression, financial issues and family breakdown as well as self-harm or suicide. Yet federal and state governments continue to support the industry for its revenue streams that they rely on for public services budgeting purposes.
Though state governments’ policies may be flawed, the federal government has come under fire for its weak approach to pokie reform. In 2017, in an apparent bid to appease lobbyists, they repealed several reforms that had previously been put in place. Meanwhile, NSW state governments has caused outrage by postponing plans for an expanded cashless gaming trial and refusing to fund research into gambling-related harm.
Victoria recently passed a law to reduce maximum bets on pokies in hopes that this change would make gambling less addictive and improve population health. Unfortunately, Victoria still has one of Australia’s highest rates of gambling-related harm, which continues to worsen by the day – according to HILDA data, two-thirds of people who play into early morning are either problem gamblers or at moderate risk compared with an average worldwide rate of only around 13%!