Categories: Poker News
| Published On Jul 7, 2017 1:40 pm CEST  |  Updated on May 2, 2021 11:55 am CEST | By iGaming Team

Australian State Government Freezes Number Of Poker Machines In the State Until 2042

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The Andrews Government has frozen the number of poker machines as part of the reforms to the industry, and there will be no new poker machine until 2042 in Victoria, Australia.

The current arrangement would be doubled under the new reform where the new batch of pokies licensing would be operational from 2022, valid for 20 years but it would not be able to fulfill the industry push for the demand of licenses to be granted in entirety.

Excluding Crown Casino, in total, a sum of more than AU$2.6 billion was lost by Victorians in 2015-16 on the state’s 26,300 machines.

The state government has capped the pokies at 27,372 until 2042 excluding 2500 slots operating at Crown Casino. A maximum of 105 machines has been restricted to the venues.

The current system in Victoria allows pokies to be evenly split between clubs and the hospitality sectors. The poker slots in pubs earn twice what machines in clubs make, according to the experts. As per the experts if clubs are allowed access to more machines it would lead to the death of the smaller groups.

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The changes came as a response to the review into gaming machine commissioned by the former minister Jane Garrett.