Total Australian spending on pokies in 2025

How much Australians are spending on pokies in 2025

Slot Spending Overview (Pokies)

1. Total losses - national scale

Australians' annual gambling losses, including slot machines, reach A $31.5 billion.

According to EGM (Electronic Gaming Machines, Poki-machines), in 2020-2021, players lost about A $12 billion on such machines.

2. South Australia: Key region

In fiscal 2024-25, pokie machine losses exceeded A $1 billion for the first time in state history.

This corresponds to about A $2 million in losses per day, or A $1 million every hour on average in New South Wales.

Data summary

Why it matters

The scale of the damage: Spending on pokie machines is a significant financial burden on families and society, comparable to federal spending on health care and social programs.

Regional imbalances: South Australia and western Sydney are particularly affected, with losses in local communities reaching tens of millions of dollars a quarter.

The growth of the online format: part of the costs goes to mobile structures, including mobile pokie games - a trend that requires a separate analysis.