While clubs and pubs in the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria are remaining very much reliant on their poker machine revenue and are opposing stricter regulatory rules that would affect this revenue, so-called pokies are banned in such venues in Western Australia. The state also sees much lower gambling losses in comparison to other Australian states where poker machines are available in various clubs, pubs, stores, etc.
Currently, pokies are only allowed in casinos across Western Australia. As mentioned above, the state has the lowest rates of gambling losses per capita in the entire country, while the reported cases of gambling addiction remain higher in other Australian states.
As explained by Dr Angela Rintoul, a senior research associate in public health at Federation University, the concentration of poker machines in only one casino in Perth reduces the exposure of Western Australia’s residents to what she described as the “most harmful form of gambling” that has ever existed in the country. She further explained that unlike lotteries or sports betting, each of which accounts for a significant part of the per capita gambling spending in the state, pokies are specially designed to hook people on gambling, which makes them “the perfect trap” for more vulnerable individuals.
Dr Rintoul shared that sports betting participation rates remain a problem in Western Australia but the operation of poker machines combines a number of factors that make it hard for people to control their gambling.
Other Australian States See Disproportionate Gambling Expenditures in the Most Deprived Areas
Previous research by Dr Rintoul has shown that pokies in Australian states where the machines are more widespread are mostly disproportionately found in the poorest and most disadvantaged areas. Throughout the years, there have also been other reports of disproportionate spending on electronic gambling machines in more disadvantaged areas in the state of Victoria.
According to official reports for 2018/2019, which was the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak for which comprehensive data is available, there were a little more than 2,400 poker machines in Western Australia at the time, which means there was less than one poker machine per 1,000 residents in the state. In comparison, there were over 91,000 pokies in the state of New South Wales in the same year.
The gambling expenditure of residents of different parts of the country reflected the huge difference in the number of electronic gambling machines across the states. Reports have revealed that Western Australians’ total gambling expenditure per capita is lower than the amount lost per capita on pokies in the rest of the country – AU$655.53. In comparison, the total gambling expenditure in New South Wales and Victoria was estimated at AU$1,548 and AU$1,138.68, respectively.
Previously, the productivity commission has found that approximately 85% of people who experience gambling harm share that so-called pokies were the hardest to avoid. However, experts have noted that there has not been much research on the differences in gambling harm experienced by gamblers in different states in Australia. According to estimates provided by one of the researchers at the Australian National University – Dr Francis Markham – gamblers in the rest of Australia report 1.6 times more symptoms of gambling addiction than the ones in Western Australia.
An interesting fact is that the lack of poker machine offerings in Western Australia does not seem to have significantly diminished the lack of other clubs. There is a disproportionately large share of pokies in comparison to other states, but the total number of clubs in Western Australia is only a bit lower than what would be expected, considering the state’s population.
- Author
Daniel Williams
