Australians Have Saved $38 Million Every Day On Pokies Since Self Isolation Rules Kicked In

Ever since self-isolation rules kicked into gear in Australia, people haven't been able to visit their local pub, club or casino.

They're three of a raft of businesses that were ordered to close to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

While it's tough for some of these establishments to stay financially afloat during this time, it's causing a big win for some of their customers.

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There are around to 200,000 poker machines dotted around Australia that are no longer in use.

Figures from financial expert Stephen Maynard suggest Australians spend around $14 billion a year on poker machines.

That equates to around $38 million a day.

So, since self-isolation laws ramped up on March 23, Australians have saved around $836 million from not being able to pour their money into the pokies.

It's unclear when restrictions will be lifted, however the Prime Minister had repeatedly said Australia will be in this situation for at least six months.

If that's the case, then there could be a whopping $7.5 billion loss for pokie machines.

While that money could be spent in other gambling areas, it's an encouraging idea that a lot of cash isn't being drained into machines.

A study from 2009 showed that when Norway banned electronic gaming machines, there wasn't an instant switch to online gambling. While that's a comforting thought, things have changed since then, and online gambling is much easier and more prevalent.

As a result, there are calls for the Australian government to introduce legislation to restrict the amount of money people can spend on online gambling to prevent a massive uptick in people splashing their cash.

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According to the Australia Institute, Australia has more poker machines in the community than any other country.

While there are loads of places like Las Vegas that have thousands of slot machines in dedicated gambling venues, such as casinos, Australia still takes the cake for the number of pokie machines in non-dedicated venues like pubs.

The Australia Institute report's co-author Bill Browne said: "Australia's large number of poker machines and our unusual decision to allow them in pubs and clubs make us a global anomaly.

"Australia has 0.3 percent of the world's population but 6 percent of its conventional gaming machines and 18% of its poker machines.

"In terms of machines per person, Australia is right up there with casino-states like Monaco, Macau and Caribbean island nations."

This change in behaviour under the coronavirus related self-isolation rules could be the thing that ends pokies.

Topics: News, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie