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New South Wales has set a new and deeply troubling record. In just 92 days, communities across the state lost $2.45 billion on poker machines, making Q3 2025 the most expensive quarter for pokies losses ever recorded.
The figures, released by Liquor and Gaming NSW (L&GNSW), arrive at an awkward moment for the state government. Only months ago, new measures were introduced to curb gambling harm and reduce the impact of addiction. Yet the numbers tell a different story — one of losses accelerating rather than slowing.
Gaming machine profits jumped 7.8 per cent in a single quarter and are now almost nine per cent higher than they were a year ago. Instead of bending downward, the trend line continues to climb.
Losses surge despite recent reforms
The scale of the losses is particularly striking given the timing. In recent months, the NSW Government moved to cancel long-standing exemptions that allowed hundreds of clubs and pubs to keep poker machines running past the mandated 4am shutdown.
Those exemptions, some more than 20 years old, had effectively allowed venues to operate pokies almost around the clock. Their removal was framed as a significant step toward reducing harm. But the latest quarterly data suggests that any impact from those changes has yet to materialise.
The government maintains that it is targeting gambling addiction rather than gambling itself, pointing to a relatively small group of high-risk players who account for a disproportionate share of losses. Critics argue that approach ignores the broader environment that enables harm to persist.
Financially stressed areas hit the hardest
Perhaps the most confronting aspect of the data is where the losses are occurring. The local government areas with the highest pokies losses are overwhelmingly those already dealing with economic hardship, housing pressure and lower average incomes.
Canterbury-Bankstown recorded the highest losses in the state, with $202.7 million lost in just three months. Fairfield followed closely at $187.7 million, while Cumberland, Blacktown and the City of Sydney also posted losses exceeding $100 million each.
These are not communities flush with spare cash. For advocacy groups, the figures reinforce a long-standing concern that poker machines extract the most money from those who can least afford to lose it.
More machines aren’t the full story
Despite the soaring losses, NSW has not seen a dramatic expansion in poker machine numbers. Over the past year, the total number of electronic gaming machines in clubs and hotels increased by just 207, bringing the statewide total to 87,839.
L&GNSW has pointed to this as evidence that the issue is not the sheer number of machines, but the intensity of play. In some areas, spending has increased even where machine numbers are relatively lower, suggesting that longer sessions and higher stakes are driving losses.
Critics counter that intensity does not exist in a vacuum. They argue that extended operating hours, venue layouts and the accessibility of machines all contribute to how much — and how often — people gamble.
Calls for stronger action grow louder
While the government’s decision to revoke shutdown exemptions has been welcomed, gambling reform advocates say it falls short of what is needed. With NSW breaking gambling loss records quarter after quarter, they argue that incremental changes are no longer enough.
From their perspective, longer mandatory shutdowns and stricter statewide controls are not radical ideas, but evidence-backed measures that have already shown results elsewhere. The concern is that without stronger intervention, losses will continue to rise while the human cost remains largely invisible.
The hidden cost behind the numbers
The $2.45 billion lost in Q3 2025 is more than a statistic. It represents rent not paid, savings drained, and financial stress absorbed quietly by households across the state. While poker machines continue to deliver strong tax revenue, critics argue the social cost far outweighs the financial return.
As NSW continues to post record-breaking losses, pressure is mounting on policymakers to confront a difficult question: how many records need to be broken before the problem is treated as the crisis it has become?
Source: www.news.com.au
