The communities with 50pc more pokies than anywhere else

AFR  -  Greg Bearup  -  Nov 2, 2025

New research has found that areas with sizeable Indigenous populations are being flooded with poker machines.

The Australia Institute study analysed poker machine numbers in local government areas across Australia, and found that in areas where at least 10 per cent of the population is Indigenous there are likely to be 50 per cent more poker machines than the national average.

Indigenous communities are being flooded with poker machines, new research has found.

And gamblers in those LGA’s with high Indigenous populations lost 20 per cent more than the national average, almost $700 per person a year.

“If you live in an area of Australia where the indigenous population is 10 per cent or more, you live in an area where there are 50 per cent more poker machines,” said Morgan Harrington, one of the report’s authors. “This tells us that if you are Indigenous, you’re more likely to be exposed to poker machines, and you are more likely to lose money to those machines.”

The study follows an investigation by The Australian Financial Review in May that revealed there had been a dramatic rise in poker machine numbers in Alice Springs in the past few years.

Alice Springs now has one poker machine for every 50 residents, triple the national average.

Sydney pub baron Sam Arnaout, of Iris Capital, installed an additional 174 machines at his three venues in Alice Springs venues in a few years.

The investigation prompted former prime minister John Howard, to say the proliferation of poker machines was a “grave social evil” and that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese must lead the charge for national gaming law reform.

Cape York Institute chief executive Kirsty Davis warned that the gambling industry’s targeting of vulnerable Aboriginal communities was devastating to efforts to end disadvantage for Indigenous people.

“Every dollar lost to gambling is a dollar taken from the mouths of our children, from their education, and their chance of a better future,” she said. “By targeting regions already struggling with low incomes, high unemployment and poor services, the (gambling) industry deepens inequality and further entrenches families and children in cycles of harm.”

Davis said her institute had “long known” the gambling industry was targeting vulnerable Indigenous communities but lacked the “robust evidence” provided by this study.

Across Cape York, 50 per cent of the population is Indigenous and the number of poker machines is “huge”, she said. In Mossman, population 2000, there are 74 poker machines – one for every 27 people. The figure is more than five times the national average.

Indigenous Communities with pokie machines.  

In Weipa and Cook Town, where more than 20 per cent of the population is Indigenous, there’s a poker machine for every 45 residents, more than three times the national average.

The Cape York Institute runs workshops to help Indigenous people manage their money. Addiction to gambling is the major concern.

“People will withdraw an entire pay packet,” Davis said, and feed it all to the pokies. The gamblers then “humbug” family for money.

“We know that when the harm comes it is the women and the children and the elderly who suffer,” she said. “It is a cycle of pain for everyone. We have a government that says it is committed to closing the gap. But I think it’s also quite clear that we have too many governments and corporates that are addicted to the revenue from gambling.”

The Australia Institute study follow the latest findings from the National Gambling Prevalence Study Pilot which revealed 27 per cent of First Nations Australians are experiencing gambling harm – double that of non-Indigenous Australians.

Alliance for Gambling Reform chief executive Martin Thomas said the research indicated the gambling industry was deliberately targeting Indigenous communities and its strategy was leading to higher losses and catastrophic social harm in these communities.

“Indigenous people are highly overrepresented among the numbers of problem gamblers and this is having far-reaching consequences in terms of financial harm, relationship breakdown and violence, mental health, violence and even suicide.”

States must do more to protect Indigenous communities and should implement a mandatory carded play system where people are required to pre-set their losses before they play so they do not lose more than they can afford, he said.

“We need federal government intervention,” he said. “We had an unbelievably thorough investigation through the parliamentary inquiry led by Peter Murphy to come up with 31 recommendations … the government has had 867 days – and counting – to work on it.”

He added: “Either they are working on an unbelievable package, or they’re being stymied and are delaying.”