NSW gamblers losing $24m to poker machines every day, analysis shows
The New South Wales government has failed to prevent serious gambling harm with $2.7bn lost to poker machines in the first 90 days of this year, according to a charity group pushing for tougher regulation.
Analysis of state government data by Wesley Mission has found the amount of money lost to poker machines during the first quarter of 2025 increased by 5.7% when compared with the same period in 2024.
According to the analysis, NSW residents are now losing an average of $1m an hour to poker machines across the state, or more than $24m every day.
Poker machines losses were the highest in Sydney's western suburbs. In the Canterbury-Bankstown area, more than $186m was lost to 4,924 poker machines in just 90 days, or an average of more than $2m a day.
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In just 90 days, more than $766m was lost to poker machines across seven local government areas in western Sydney: Fairfield, Cumberland, Blacktown, Parramatta, Penrith and Campbelltown and Canterbury-Bankstown.
Wesley Mission, which sat on the NSW government's expert independent panel on gambling reform, has warned residents in Sydney's west are now losing an average of about $3,200 a year.
The charity's chief executive, Stu Cameron, said the state government needed to urgently introduce tougher regulation of poker machines.
'The government has implemented limited reforms, but they clearly aren't having a material impact,' Cameron said. 'The losses continue to be massive, the poker machines keep multiplying and their devastating impact deepens every day.
'If the goal was to reduce gambling harm, then these reforms have failed. What we need now is courage – not more delays.'
A spokesperson for the NSW minister for gaming and racing, David Harris, said the government was committed to 'evidence-based gaming reform' that would reduce harm and stop money laundering, while supporting local communities and jobs.
'Our gaming reforms are about changing people's behaviour which takes time,' Harris said.
'The government is reducing the overall number of gaming machines in NSW by reducing the gaming machine entitlement cap by over 3,000 since this Government was elected in 2023.
'Our government has also committed $100m to harm minimisation, introduced more responsible gambling officers, and have slashed cash limits on new machines.'
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Wesley Mission also called on the state government to also introduce mandatory shutdowns of poker machines from midnight to 10am, to introduce a cashless gaming card with enforceable harm reduction limits, and to set tighter caps on the number of machines in high-risk communities.
'These are not radical ideas – they are basic public health protections,' Cameron said. 'If people were being harmed this severely by alcohol, drugs, or unsafe roads, the government would act.'
'Gambling should be no different. Instead, the government does little while the industry rakes in billions.'
Wesley Mission's analysis found the number of poker machines operating across the state had slightly increased when compared with the first quarter of 2024.
The shadow minister for gaming, Kevin Anderson, said the government had 'promised a big game' on poker machines before the state election, but failed to deliver.
'The delays are just mind boggling and so frustrating for industry,' Anderson said. 'When I talk to pubs and clubs, they want certainty from this government and they are not getting it.'
In November last year, the independent panel wrote a 'roadmap' on how to overhaul the state's regulation of poker machines and limit harm. The Minns government is yet to formally respond to the report's recommendations, which were contested by some panel members.
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