The A$31.5 Billion Reason Australia Wants Slot Machines Switched Off Earlier
Posted on: June 1, 2026, 08:50h.
Last updated on: June 1, 2026, 08:50h.
- Australia’s gambling losses have climbed to A$31.5 billion annually
- NSW campaigners want pokies shut down from midnight to 10am
- Late-night gamblers face significantly higher risks of gambling harm
Growing concern about gambling harm in Australia is fueling calls for stricter operating hours for slots in pubs and clubs.
A push to pull the plug on the machines – or “pokies” as they are known colloquially – from midnight to 10am in the state of New South Wales (NSW) is gathering pace amid news that the country has once again topped the highest gambling losses in the world.
That’s not surprising. The country has consistently ranked at or near the top for gambling losses per capita for many years. What’s troubling is that losses appear to be increasing faster than inflation, despite the cost-of-living crisis.
Losses Rising
In 2014, Australia’s losses stood at A$21 billion for the year. Today, they’re A$31.5 billion, according to the Grattan Institute – more than the federal government spends on aged care each year.
Australia has just 0.3% of the world’s population but 17% of its non-gaming-venue slot machines.
In NSW, gamblers lost nearly $9.3 billion on poker machines in 2025, the highest annual total recorded in the state, and they’re on pace to beat that this year, according to faith-based non-profit the Wesley Mission.
There seem to be only three certainties in NSW right now: death, taxes and spiraling poker machine losses,” Rev. Stu Cameron, the mission’s CEO, told Yahoo News this week.
Under NSW law, hotels and registered clubs are meant to switch off gaming machines between 4am and 10am each day, according to Liquor & Gaming NSW. From 1 April 2026, the government says more than 650 venues are required to follow those standard hours after their exemptions were revoked.
Many of these exemptions existed for more than 20 years and were granted for reasons including tourism, early-opening history, or financial hardship.
But for campaigners, that still leaves the most damaging stretch of the night largely untouched.
Late-Night Gambling
A NSW Office of Responsible Gambling study found late-night electronic gaming machine players were more likely to show signs of problem gambling, and that risk rose the later play continued.
The research says problem gambling was 3.1% among people playing between 8am and 10pm, 7.3% between 10pm and midnight, 12.1% between midnight and 2am, and 22.6% between 2am and 8am.
The NSW Greens have proposed a longer shutdown, from midnight to 10am, arguing that the period after midnight is when losses and harm become harder to control.
The Australian Christian Lobby had backed the Greens’ push despite sharp political differences between the groups, creating an unlikely alliance around gambling reform.
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