AUSSIE POKIES TWEAKED FOR BETTER RESULTS

18 April 2008

Move to counter fall-off in players caused by smoking ban


Australian gamblers may have a slightly better chance at beating the pokies in land gambling establishments following a move to tweak the machines for better results to combat falling attendance due to smoking bans.

The Australian Daily Telegraph reports that poker machines have been tweaked to return a total of $57 million extra in winnings in a desperate move to lure back punters to pubs and clubs.

The secret jackpot giveaway is revealed in exclusive figures compiled for the newspaper that also map where players get the best - and worst - returns when playing the pokies.

Return-to-player figures, released by the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing, show that the 35 clubs in the Fairfield-Liverpool local government areas are the state's most generous. Poker machines in that area gave back, on average, 92.72 cents of every dollar wagered in the December quarter.

In contrast, the worst return rate was in the 98 hotels in the state's southeast - around Cooma and the Snowy Mountains - which pay back 87.09 cents in every dollar.

Overall, clubs are a much better bet than hotels, which are required to pay a higher tax rate on turnover to the Office of State Revenue.

The return-to-player figures show an increasing trend to higher payout rates through 2007 as the June 30 smoking bans left club and pub gaming reeling as players deserted. Clubs saw their quarterly turnover fall from $10.78 billion in the May quarter to $9.95 billion for the November quarter. Hotel turnover also fell from $4.31 billion in the June quarter to $3.91 billion by the December quarter.

In response, poker machine operators have been forced to up the ante to stem their losses. The Daily Telegraph calculations - based on the return-to-player percentages and turnover, profit and tax data - show the windfall to players is about $48.2 million for clubs with their return-to-player ratio up almost 0.5 per cent. Hotels were a little less generous, giving back an extra $8.4 million.

Areas where the winnings have increased most include clubs in the Sydney CBD, which lifted their return-to-player from 91.01 percent to 91.62 percent. Across NSW, club rates climbed on average from 89.81 per cent to 90.14 per cent, although in Sydney clubs it was more marked, rising from 90.40 per cent ot 90.80 per cent. Hotels in NSW increased from 88.71 per cent to 88.81 per cent with Sydney pubs rising from 88.78 per cent to 88.96 per cent.

Industry insiders estimate that hotels rake in an extra $283.9 million a year by not meeting club return-to-player rates, yet even anti-gambling advocates say returns should be uniform in both clubs and pubs.

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