Comparing Casino Stats and Figures Amongst the Big Three in Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide

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When it comes to casino games, Australia is a country that loves slot machines. Colloquially known as pokies, it has 90,000 of them housed in gaming clubs, pubs, and casinos. Second only to Nevada and Las Vegas in this figure, despite having less than 1% of the world's population, the country has 18% of its gaming machines. These are dotted around its most populous territories: Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide.  

Australian Gambling Laws 

Australia is made up of different states, each with its slightly different approach to gambling. However, there are nationwide laws that also govern this. Very often, figures are combined into a large total, making it hard to find accurate information about the breakdown of revenue in each area. Thus, it helps to dive into the events and news to see what is going on.  

The Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 governs much of Australia's laws regarding online casinos. Currently, these are illegal, though accessing them is not. This means many people choose to go offshore, and conservative figures suggest that $800 million is staked on these websites each year.

While this is technically out of their jurisdiction, the Australian government does keep an eye on offshore platforms and goes after ones that are seen to be exploiting its citizens. Thus, there has grown a strong ecosystem of offshore operators used by Australians. Providing bonuses such as AU free spins, they are able to provide the same levels of customer service and game selections as any of the top online casinos available across the world. Many of these are even no deposit casinos. This mean players can use bonuses and try games without even handing over their financial details or making a deposit. 

Sydney 

While statistics for Sydney specifically are hard to come by, there are plenty of statistics for the state of New South Wales itself. Despite Australia being a supposed country of gamblers, the figure has declined overall a little since 2006. This has gone from 69% to 53.5%. However, this covers all forms of gambling, including lotteries, sports betting, and casino games.  This is the case in Sydney.

The most popular way to gamble using casino gaming machines, ie, pokies, is with the generation between the ages of 18-24. For other age groups, sports betting and lotteries are prevalent. However, this has been in decline since 2019, with those who use casino gambling machines decreasing from 15.7% to 14.3%. Table games have also seen a drop from 5.3% to 1%.  

As of last year, gambling and betting taxes are expected to grow at 4.9%. Most of this comes from pokies. This is taxed differently depending on where the machine is located, with gaming halls, pubs, and actual casinos being the main places. 

Melbourne 

When it comes to physical premises, Melbourne operates similarly to many other states and has one primary location. This is the Crown Melbourne, sister site of the same venue in Sydney. Other than this, the only other places to gamble are at the racetracks and in pokie-exclusive gambling halls.  

Last year, the company announced a $164.8 million loss, though this was over both sites and overall takings. This figure fits with the declining figures in Australian gambling. Revenue for the whole group was 0.2% lower than the previous year, and stood at AU$ 2.8 billion. Crown itself blamed challenging conditions in the hospitality industry for this. This has been amid quite large sell-offs of its assets, including a sale of its 20% stake in the restaurant chain Nobu.  

Just like other states, online casino gaming is not allowed. This means many people do their online casino gaming offshore. It is estimated that around 1 in 20 adults use offshore casinos for some form of gambling, either through gaming or sportsbooks.  

Adelaide 

South Australia is the state in which Adelaide is located. It has been at the forefront of carefully checking its gambling operators and has made a line for safer gambling initiatives. This has even included mandatory facial recognition technology at gambling venues.  

Central to its gambling plans has been SkyCity Adelaide. Situated in North Terrace, it is the sole licensed casino in South Australia. It is also the tenth-largest employer in the state and brings around $41 million in taxes each year. Part of a redevelopment of the river site, it is now open 24 hours and provides over 1000 pokies with 100 table games. Its last declaration of earnings was $959.6 million for the whole year.  

Online casino gambling is used in the state, though figures are hard to come by. This allows people to play table games, pokies, and other gambling titles. Many people view this as helpful in a state that can be very remote, where there is only one physical casino. Like other states, gambling machines are taxed differently depending on where they are placed, so online pokie revenue will differ from machine-based ones that are placed in bars and pubs.