Pokies probably won’t become a hot button issue for the upcoming election, but there has been a recent rise in bad press.

Kevin Rudd has promised to confront state governments on their reliance on poker machine revenue. The statement coincided with a report on Four Corners which exposed the yearly “jackpot” enjoyed by state governments and club owners at the punters’ expense.

Then yesterday, Russell Crowe announced his NRL club, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, would get rid of its 160 pokers machines, a move that could cost it millions in lost revenue. Crowe’s business partner Peter Holmes a Court told the Herald Sun it was responsible because more than half the club’s gaming income came from people on welfare.

So here’s a snapshot of pokies in Australia:

Australia-wide

  • 1999 report: 2% of adult Australians, 2.5% in NSW, had a moderate or severe gambling problem, representing roughly 300,000 people
  • 8.5-10% play pokies regularly, more than a 3/10 of this group have or a developing a gambling problem
  • 15% of gamblers seek professional help
  • In 2002-03, State governments collected nearly $4 billion in revenue from gambling, more than half of which comes from poker machines, representing 11% of State taxation revenue (ABS 2004a) 1 and 0.55 per cent of GDP.
  • Revenue has increased over time, from $1.5 billion in 1988-89 to $3.9 billion in 2002-03, largely as a result of growth in poker machines
  • State g’ment revenue decreased in 2000-01 as a result of the GST, but has been increasing again since.
  • In 1999-2000, total gambling expenditure within Australia was $13.34 billion, which was more than the Tasmanian 1999-2000 GDP of $11.6 billion
  • The Productivity Commission’s own surveys found that 42% of problem gamblers had gone without food as a result of their habit. More than 90% considered themselves depressed as a result of their gambling; 37% had considered suicide, while 11.2% had attempted to kill themselves.
  • About 82% of adult Australians gamble, the highest rate in the world. 40% gamble at least once a week.
  • At the state level, adults from NSW, Northern Territory and Victoria spent the most on gambling, with $1,140 (4.02% of household disposable income), $1,096 (3.64% of HDI) and $1,052 (3.83% of HDI) being spent respectively in 1999-2000.

New South Wales

  • 1260 clubs operating poker machines in NSW
  • Most poker machines are in the poorer south, south-west regions of Sydney, eg Bankstown has 15 poker machines per thousand people as opposed to the “leafy” municipality of Kuring-gai which has just one.
  • In 2001, the NSW g’ment capped pokie machines to just over 100,000 (roughly the same amount found in the rest of Australia)
  • In 2006/2007 financial year, the NSW g’ment received nearly $500 million in tax revenue from hotel poker machines

Victoria

  • Victoria had as of June 2006, 27,147 electronic gaming machines (EGMs)
  • Victoria nets $1.5 billion a year – about 8% of its total tax revenue – from poker machines

South Australia

  • South Australia as of June 2007, had 12,581 machines
  • SA G’ment reaped $313.85 million 2006/07

Tasmania

  • Tasmania had 2,400 machines as of June 2006
  • Tasmania reaped almost $22 million 2005/06

Queensland

  • As of August 2007, there were 41,613 EGMs operating in Queensland
  • The Queensland Government received $375 million in tax revenue from gaming machines in 2002/03

Northern Territory

  • As of June 2005, NT had a total of 1802 poker machines
  • The NT Government gained $21.9 million in tax revenue from EGMs in 2004/05

Western Australia

  • Western Australia has long held a “no-pokie” policy. Poker machines are restricted only to the state’s main casino, which totals the number of state-wide EGMs at 523

Australian Capital Territory

  • The nation’s capital is addicted to gaming machines, with 5,144 EGMs recorded in 2004/05. Canberra has the highest per capita ratio of EGMs in the country of 20.742 (2005)