The latest gaming figures from ILGA speak to the argument that supply is not the key factor in the proliferation of gaming – with revenue rising as machine numbers fall.
The 2014-15 report into gaming in NSW by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) released this week shows an overall increase in gaming turnover through poker machines of six per cent.
One of the less expected facts behind this modest increase is that 244 machines were removed from circulation, as part of ILGA’s program to resume one machine per three sold (as per the Gaming Machine Act 2001).
The top-grossing districts remained relatively unchanged, with the western Sydney LGA (Local Government Area) of Fairfield blitzing the field – turning over 207 per cent times second-place getter Canterbury. The money put through poker machines in Fairfield LGA amounted to 10.5 per cent of the State’s total.
In fact the top ten districts accounted for the lion’s share of gaming spend: 43 per cent of revenue from the State’s 147 LGAs, from just 27.1 per cent of the machines.
New South Wales currently licenses 89,761 EGMs, of which 25.67 per cent are in hotels, and 74.33 per cent in Clubs.
Clubs hold an average of 1:3 times as many machines in most LGAs, including the top 10 – with the exception of Sydney, where the situation is reversed. In the Sydney CBD hotels hold 81.1 per cent of machines.
Number One performer Fairfield sees hotels hold just 14 per cent of the 3394 EGMs.
The Liquor Act 2007 provisions for the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) to balance the task of “an appropriate balance between permitting the sale and consumption of liquor and gaming and ensuring that sale and consumption are accompanied by responsibility and safety”.
EGMs in EGMs in Total Annual LGA
Hotels Clubs Machines Turnover Per machine Per week
Fairfield 477 2917 3394 7,616,401,065 2244078.10 43155.35
Canterbury 398 1590 1988 3,668,479,437 1845311.59 35486.76
Bankstown 460 2067 2527 3,663,228,336 1449635.27 27877.60
Sydney 3340 778 4118 3,640,053,749 883937.29 16998.79
Blacktown 670 1991 2661 2,882,510,921 1083243.49 20831.61
Parramatta 602 1300 1902 2,409,873,246 1267020.63 24365.78
Auburn 277 582 859 2,199,414,432 2560435.89 49239.15
Holroyd 179 1195 1374 2,000,659,219 1456083.86 28001.61
Penrith 429 2087 2516 1,999,084,898 794548.85 15279.79
Wollongong 532 2508 3040 1,854,850,779 610148.28 11733.62