Pokies are known for being the most fun form of entertainment but also one of the most frustrating hobbies. Becoming frustrated when playing pokies is part of the process as it can lead to further amusement so as you can see they both go hand in hand, like Romeo and Juliet. A few Capulets need to be fought before you can become the glove upon that hand that pushes the pokies button that leads to a jackpot.
There are many pokies stories and all have not to lead to a jackpot but that doesn’t mean you still can’t win a large amount. A pokies player will at some point in their life in a large amount of money but more commonly players tend to win smaller amounts but more often.
Aussies have relished in this exciting game of chance for decades and still to this day enjoy going to the local pub with their mates and have a go at the video slots. More so, Australians are also known for having a good go at the pokies online too which has become to grow into the most popular form of gambling in Australia.
Gambling really has become a hobby for most Australians as Aussies love to compete. Here are 10 funny facts about Australia’s obsession with pokies:
- Gambling is the most popular hobby in Australia
It has always been known that Australian’s love to gamble weather it’s on sportsbooks, lotteries, bingo, poker or most importantly the pokies.
The slot games really have taken the Aussie’s by storm and has become one of the most popular forms of gambling.
In fact, a study that was conducted in 2013 found that Australians are the biggest gamblers in the world. A staggering amount of 80% of Aussie’s gamble and have shown to be quite unafraid of losing hence why they keep coming back to play on their dear pokies.
Australians spend between 350 up to 12,000 AUD per year on gambling which also makes them the biggest overall spenders in the world.
2. Australia, the land of pokies machines
Guess what, Australia is the land that possess one of the largest amounts of slot machines. Australia have taken 20% of the worlds pokies machines and New South Wales is the hub that holds around 100,000 of the machines in Australia.
It seems that the pokies machines in Australia are more fun to play on too, why? Well, it’s because of the vibe that Australian casinos make. Gambling is not something to be frowned upon in Australia so the casinos have made sure to make it the best experience of their gamblers lives!
3. Nearly half of Australian adults gamble
As pokies are the favorite form of gambling for adults in Australia, a conducted study has found that 40% of the adults who gamble choose to play on pokies. Which we totally understand as the Australian pokies machines online and offline have great Return To Player percentages.
The RTP percentages tend to range from 90%-92% on the Aussie pokies machines. Many other countries tend to have an average of between 87%-90% which makes Australian’s pokies machines better. There are of course many games in Australia online and offline that go up to as high as 99%.
4. An Australian is more likely to get bitten by a poisonous snake than to win a jackpot
As you can see, Australians really love to play pokies because why else would they keep on playing when the odds of winning the top jackpot are 1 in 9,765,625. Your chances of getting bit by a poisonous snake are 1 in 1,000,000 and getting struck by lightning are 1 in 1,603,250.
Luckily, people aren’t trying to get bit by poisonous snakes or struck by lightning….
Players that bet on 1 lines on their pokies in Australia have an average chance of winning the jackpot 1 in 50,000,000 whilst the Aussies that bet on 20 lines have 1 in 2,500,000 of winning the big life changing pot.
The highest jackpot possible to win in a pub in Australia is 10,000 AUD and the biggest pokies jackpot ever won in Australia was 38.7 million AUD.
5. The Australian government takes home the biggest jackpot of 4 billion AUD per year in revenue
The Aussie government reaps from the benefits that they collect each year from the slot machines. Although the Australian government collects 4 billion AUD per year, the Aussie spend more money on online pokies where the total revenue collected was over 125 billion AUD.
Since the government earns so much from the Australians playing on pokies, how much do Aussies lose on gambling?
In 2014 Australians lost an estimated 11 billion AUD in clubs and hotels on gambling whilst they gambled away 1.5 billion AUD in the Aussie casinos. In short, that is roughly 700 AUD per gambler per year.
The study showed that Australians lose more on gambling than any other country in the world and mostly on pokies games too.
The 4% of the 40% of Aussie pokies gamblers played weekly and would lose and estimated amount of around 8000 AUD per year.
The clubs, hotels and casinos reap from the benefits that Aussies gamble as much as the government does. The clubs and hotels make around 56,000 AUD per year whilst the casino pokies machines are a lot more profitable and make around 200,000 AUD per machine, per year.
6. Pokies were first legalised in New South Wales, 1956.
Pokies arrived in New South Wales in late the late 19th century a good few years after the first pokies machine Liberty Bell was invented in 1985 in California by German born Charles Fey.
Slot machines were then legalised in New South Wales in 1956 and the rest of the nations followed as such; Victoria and Queensland 1991, South Australia 1992, Tasmania 1997 and the Northern Territory 1998.
Western Australia still has a ban on the pokies machines everywhere except for in casinos.
A pokies machine weighs around 275 pounds and has roughly 1,200 parts that makes the fantastic gambling device where the leading device Aristocrat was created in 1953. It is still to this day the leading manufacturer in Australia and goes by the name The Clubman.
The Australian government has by law set a minimum RTP percentage of 87% on the pokies machines.
Pokies have not always been called pokies, it was invented by Australians whilst in the US they call the pokies slot machines, the UK calls the decide fruit machines and in Canada they are called the slots.
7. Australians agree that gambling should be more controlled
Who would believe that, eh? Believe it or not but the Aussie’s knows that gambling on pokies has increased a high level of problem gamblers in Australia. This is why they would like stricter rules and regulations because they want the fun to continue in the safest of ways!
As gambling is legal in local pubs, it seems that there are more locations that have pokies in the poorer areas where Australians live off benefits. Aussies wish that this is something that would be banned, to help the people who cannot afford to gamble.
Problem gambling is growing more by the minute in Australia but the fellow non-problem gamblers are sympathetic and want to help the ones who are addicted.
Luckily, there are certain gambling restrictions such as limits on online pokies but that isn’t enough. There needs to be more help for the problem gamblers in Australia such as having less access to pokies machines in pubs.
8. All Aussie pokies games brings you jackpot luck
There’s a myth out there that says if you gamble on certain games at certain times you are more likely to win the jackpot. This is not true. The Aussie pokies machines are controlled by a chip that has a generator which goes through a series of winning combinations that are randomly selected, randomly at anytime.
This chip is put in the pokies machine at the manufactures so the casino companies cannot mend anything to increase or decrease chances of winning jackpots.
So the good news is, you don’t have to go to bed extra late or get up extra early to play pokies because all Australian pokies games generate their wins randomly.
9. Aussie’s were so obsessed with pokies that direct marketing isn’t allowed anymore
Yes, it’s true. The government and regulators have sat down, they have come to the conclusion that direct marketing shall not be allowed anymore in Australia. This is due to the problem gamblers in Australia that had grown rapidly overtime and it now allows the gamblers to make their own minds up without being bombarded with loads of promotional emails that tell the Australian players to spend their money. Thinking about it now, no one likes a pushy seller….
10. Pokies brings Aussies together
Australian’s loves people and as you know, they love, love, love pokies. Gambling is a way of socializing in Australia and truly brings families and friends together. It also allows people who are new to the country to bound and make friends as it’s such a chatty time for Aussies as they sit in front of the pokies machines in clubs, hotels and casinos and openly start conversations with strangers.
So if you love pokies like the Australian’s, why not hit up the local casino, club or hotel, sit down in front of a pokies machine and allow fate to put you and your future BFF together.