Why do Australians love pokies?
If you are looking for a single answer as to just why Aussies love their pokies, you’re in for a bit of a shock. There isn’t one. In fact, there are several reasons which all contribute to explain why pokies are Australia’s most popular gambling game. How popular are pokies, and how much do Australians love pokie machines? Read on to find out… The numbers are in favour
One of things which stands out when diving into why Australians love pokies is the number of pokies out there. When Australian started to release slots in the 1950s, they were one of the few legalised gambling games. As a result, these pokies became immensely popular and the number of them grew very rapidly. …show more content…
They appeared in bars, too, which were frequented by a large section of the population, and people would play whilst drinking. Even though pokies are now largely found in arcades and casinos, the Aussie’s love of the games has remained, and so have the number of machines available across the country – there are almost 200,000 machines active at this moment in time. Big-time gamblers
Australians have always loved to gamble, and many of them consider Australia a lucky country. Given their fondness of gambling, pokie machines are simply convenient for Australians. They allow players to have a spot of simplistic fun, and they are conveniently placed around the city. Pokies have also been fixed with problem gaming features of late, so those problem gamers are less inclined to end up trouble, and gamble responsibly. On average, Australians lose around $700 apiece each year, making a total of $11 billion lost to pokie machines in all. Raises money for the state
Make no mistake about how much money is raised for the state via pokies, both online and offline.
Although online gambling is still technically illegal, the state has no concerns about pokie machines. In all, $3.2 billion was raised last year via pokies, which accounted for 5% of the entire tax raised for the country. The government has tried to make venues housing pokies safer, and the games safer, too (as mentioned above), so safer games mean more people are willing to play. Tourism
One thing which is often overlooked is the effect on the pokie industry by tourism. Australians may love their pokies, but so do Asians. Many rich Asian players come down to Australia to play, because gambling is either frowned upon, or banned in their country. Visiting resorts, casinos, and even smaller venues, these players certainly like to spend, and spend on pokies no less. There can be no doubt that gambling tourism certainly plays its part in making up the numbers.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter why Aussies love their pokies. What matters is that they do, and as long as they continue to do so, Australian will remain one of the top places for anybody to play their favourite pokie and slot machine
games.