NSW Pokies Took A$4.75 Billion From Players in Just Six Months

One of the more interesting details in the latest figures is that the record losses cannot simply be explained by a major increase in the number of machines, because there were 88,039 electronic gaming machines operating across NSW in Q2 2026, just 109 more than in the same quarter of 2025.

At the same time, the average loss per machine increased to A$27,043, up 4.6% year-on-year, which means that NSW residents gamble more on the same machines.

The longer-term figures tell a similar story. Quarterly losses increased from A$2.03 billion in Q2 2022 to A$2.38 billion in Q2 2026, which accounts for a 17.4% increase, while the number of machines remained almost the same.

Wesley Mission’s analysis therefore suggests that the rise has been driven primarily by higher losses through existing machines rather than an expansion of pokie machines.

That distinction matters because it makes the latest result harder to explain simply as an expansion of the pokies market.

The longer-term figures that are also available in the latest Wesley Mission report show just how consistently pokie losses have been increasing in NSW. Apart from a small dip in Q2 2023, losses have risen every year since 2022, with both the quarterly and half-year figures reaching new highs in 2026.

As the table shows, one particularly interesting trend is that hotel losses have been growing faster than club losses. H1 hotel losses increased from A$1.63 billion in 2022 to A$2.07 billion in 2026, a rise of around 27%, compared with an increase of roughly 21% for clubs over the same period.

That doesn’t mean hotels account for more losses overall, because clubs still generate the larger total, but the faster growth at hotels is worth keeping an eye on.

With A$4.75 billion already lost in the first six months of 2026, NSW is on track for another record year if the current pace continues. The H1 figure is already around A$310 million higher than the same period last year, despite the same number of pokie machines.

Wesley Mission estimates that NSW is losing around A$26.3 million every day on pokies, and if that pace continued for the full year, losses would approach A$10 billion.

The figures also raise questions about how much impact changes to pokies room shutdown hours could have. NSW already requires machines to be switched off between 4 am and 10 am, and the Government is reviewing those hours.

However, hotel losses are growing faster than club losses, so it will be interesting to see whether changing the shutdown period has any noticeable effect on the state’s overall losses.