Liquor & Gaming NSW has published its latest gaming machine data updates, which detail the gaming machine numbers and net profit for each NSW local government area as well as the net profit rankings for all NSW venues with gaming machines.
LGNSW publishes the data every six months which it says is “part of the NSW Government’s commitment to boost transparency on gambling activity in local communities”.
The latest reports cover 1 June 2018 to 30 November 2018 for clubs and 1 July 2018 to 31 December 2018 for hotels. LGNSW said that “due to seasonal factors, gaming machine profits are historically higher in the second half of each calendar year”.
For this period the most profitable hotel in NSW was the Cross Roads Hotel in Casula, while the most profitable club was Mount Pritchard & District Community Club (trading as Mounties).
Top 10 gaming machine net profit hotels in NSW:
- Cross Roads Hotel, Casula
- Railway Hotel, Lidcombe
- Markets Hotel, Flemington
- Meridian Hotel, Hurstville
- The Crown Hotel, Revesby
- El Cortez, Canley Heights
- Campsie Hotel, Campsie
- Twin Willows Hotel, Bass Hill
- Royal Oak Hotel, Lidcombe
- Pritchards Hotel, Mount Pritchard
Top 10 gaming machine net profit clubs in NSW:
- Mt Pritchard & District Community Club Limited (Trading as Mounties)
- Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club
- Bankstown Sports Club
- Canterbury League Club Ltd
- Cabra-Vale Ex-Active Servicemen’s Club Ltd
- Rooty Hill RSL Club Limited
- Wentworthville Leagues Club Limited
- Revesby Workers’ Club Ltd
- Parramatta Leagues Club
- Liverpool Catholic Club
The updates also details profitability and tax income for each local government area in NSW, and the number of gaming machines in each area. This information is again broken down by clubs and hotels.
The 10 highest hotel gaming machine LGAs in NSW
| LGA | Net Profit | Tax | Number of machines | Number of premises |
| Sydney | $153,448,511.75 | $49,141,163.00 | 3,140 | 172 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown | $113,152,598.29 | $44,721,224.28 | 884 | 32 |
| Fairfield | $79,482,101.49 | $32,646,053.97 | 507 | 19 |
| Cumberland | $77,536,626.72 | $31,870,236.00 | 522 | 18 |
| Blacktown | $65,864,452.52 | $24,164,991.07 | 703 | 25 |
| Parramatta | $50,557,729.72 | $18,740,907.88 | 547 | 20 |
| Georges River | $45,277,263.09 | $17,186,761.71 | 424 | 15 |
| Inner West | $43,685,223.30 | $14,119,413.75 | 888 | 55 |
| Bayside | $40,286,792.26 | $15,045,984.48 | 432 | 17 |
| Liverpool | $40,085,619.62 | $16,049,851.99 | 341 | 12 |
The 10 highest club gaming machine LGAs in NSW
| LGA | Net Profit | Tax | Number of machines | Number of premises |
| Fairfield | $185,584,100.34 | $44,056,193.97 | 3,356 | 19 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown | $175,352,451.22 | $40,480,146.20 | 4,134 | 33 |
| Cumberland | $114,877,216.50 | $27,038,352.02 | 2,228 | 14 |
| Central Coast | $110,251,814.99 | $20,955,515.40 | 4,008 | 39 |
| Blacktown | $82,038,568.76 | $18,903,709.19 | 2,118 | 12 |
| Penrith | $62,970,776.66 | $13,510,459.54 | 2,104 | 16 |
| Wollongong | $62,546,504.11 | $11,066,556.11 | 2,472 | 37 |
| Georges River | $58,588,816.90 | $12,356,933.34 | 1,540 | 14 |
| Campbelltown | $56,843,753.01 | $12,972,160.99 | 1,597 | 9 |
| Newcastle | $51,441,783.01 | $10,211,111.01 | 2,120 | 31 |
LGNSW also detailed some of the key overall numbers relating to gaming machines in the state. Compared to the previous six months the number of gaming machines in operation fell by 300 in clubs and by three in hotels. Overall the net profit in the six months rose by 4.1 per cent in clubs, compared to the previous six months and by 13.4 per cent for hotels.
Over the last six months of 2018 the number of club gaming venues fell by seven compared to the previous six months, while the number of hotel gaming venues fell by 40.
LGNSW has moved to reporting net profit for machines, rather than turnover as it said “turnover has commonly been misinterpreted and led to wrong assumptions about levels of gaming machine loss”.
Net profit is the combined profit from gaming machines for all venues within an LGA. It is not exactly the same as player losses because some larger jackpots are ‘pooled’ when machines are linked across multiple venues and LGAs.
The data has included LGA based yearly statistics for the number of gaming machines and the total value of bets on gaming machines. However, it is the closest indicator of how much communities have lost on gaming machines.
Turnover refers to the total value of bets on gaming machines, including bets made using credits won during the course of play. It is simply the amount of money bet, regardless of whether that money is won or lost.
In NSW, gaming machines must return at least 85 per cent of turnover over the playing out of their full course of combinations, with the average return of all gaming machines being about 90 per cent.