The Guardian – New South Wales is second only to Nevada as the most gambling machine-packed state in the world, according to a new report.
The World Count of Gaming Machines report, released by Australia’s poker-machine lobby group, the Gaming Technologies Association (GTA), has found the total number of gambling machines in Australia increased slightly in 2013 to 198,418.
More than 95,000 of those “pokies” are in NSW, a state total beaten only by Nevada, which operated 181,109 gambling machines in 2014.
Australia has the sixth highest number of gambling machines in the world, the report shows, with Australian pubs, clubs and casinos operating more machines than Canada (eighth in the world) and Mexico (ninth) combined.
Adjusted for population, Australia’s machine count is beaten only by resort destinations such as Monaco, Sint Maarten and Aruba, and also Japan, where gambling is technically banned, but where punters play “pachinko” arcade machines to win prizes they can trade for cash.
The figures come just weeks after the federal government, with Labor’s support, repealed a raft of poker machine reforms that were intended to address problem gambling, which is estimated to account for about 41% of total gambling machine revenue in Australia.
“It’s a national disgrace, and Australia, and particularly NSW, should be profoundly ashamed of this,” the Rev Tim Costello, chair of the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce, said.
“When you think back in 1999, the productivity commission asserted that we have 20% of the world’s fast-playing gaming machines, not including the pachinkos or all these toy machines. The fact that we’re still in this position is a failure of both national and state policy,” he said.
“We know that the politicians take huge donations from the gaming industry. We know they utter mealy mouth words that they’re concerned. But the number of machines is proof that it’s their failure. Greater addiction is directly correlated to greater accessibility.”
