Introduction to Pokies
Pokies or Poker Machines are an Australian pastime that is getting more popular as time goes by. Pokies are everywhere you turn here in Australia, whether you’re in a local pub, sports club or casino, you can’t get away from them. Pokies are very similar to their online cousins, in that they use electronic, virtual reels instead of real mechanical reels. Pokies are the biggest form of gambling in Australia – for every Aussie dollar that is spent betting on the horses there are five pumped into the pokies. Pokies also generate a huge amount of revenue for the Australian government, so while pokies are sometimes the cause of gambling problems amongst Aussie citizens, the revenue they generate is put back into worthwhile community and federal projects.

Our Favourite Pokies
The pokies that you play at a pub, club or casino are not always available online, for example you won't find classics like Where's the Gold?, Deep Freeze, Hit the Heights or Queen of the Nile in online casinos. However, here at Online Pokies 4U we review the best available online alternatives - the sort of pokies that an Aussie would enjoy playing...

Pokies in Australia
The term ‘pokie’ is coined from ‘poker machines’ and refers to what most of the rest of the English speaking world call slots. Pokies are officially called ‘gaming machines’ and consist of five (more of less) electronically animated reels that display symbols to the player. The player spins the reels and hopes to get a winning combination of scatter and wild symbols. Pokies can be played legally in pubs, sports clubs and casinos and are regulated at state level, meaning that the six states of Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia) get to create their own rules & regulations regarding pokies. New South Wales was the first state to make pokie gambling legal (in the 1950s) and as a result they are the state that has by far the greatest number of online pokies (estimated to be as much as 50% of Australia’s total number of machines).

Online Pokies
Since the introduction of online pokies in the mid-90s, the popularity of playing online has grown considerably, despite some legal issues that have prevented online casinos marketing directly to Australians, online pokie play in Australia is growing by the day. It’s not hard to see why either; online pokies offer a greater chance of winning than their offline counterparts and also offer jackpots that regularly go into the millions. It is not always possible to play exactly the same pokies online as you would at the pubs, clubs or casinos in Australia – that’s because the manufacturers of offline pokies do not make online versions. However there are plenty of online pokies that work in a very similar way to offline poker machines – and Online Pokies 4U is at hand to tell you about the best ones!

Australia’s Favourite Online Pokies
There are a lot of very popular pokies in Australia, some of the most popular in recent times are Queen of the Nile, Pokie Magic, Zorro, Cleopatra, 5 Dragons, Blazing 7, Big Red, Where’s the Gold, 50 Lions, Mr Cashman, Indian Dreaming, Diamond Point & Quest and King Kong Cash. We review these offline pokies and many others right here at Online Pokies 4U. We also let you know the best online matches for these popular land-based slots.

Pokie Payouts
There is very little doubt that online pokies give a better winning % than offline pokies. For example, most online casinos will pay out at a rate of 97% and although the pokies may pay out a little less than the overall casino payout (probably around the 95% mark is right for online pokies) it’s still much higher than pokie pay outs offline. For example in Queensland pokies only have to pay out at 85% and Victoria is only marginally better at 87%. So you can see that you are much more likely to play winning pokies online than you are offline.

Winning at Pokies
If you are brutally honest there are no sure fire strategies or tips that will make you definitely win at pokies – after all slots are a game of chance… However, we have put together a strategy section that you can navigate to from the top menu that gives you tips and advice that’ll help you become a better pokies player.

Jackpot Pokies
Here at Online Pokies 4U we keep track of the best online pokie jackpots available on the web. Online pokies jackpots tend to be a really decent size – they have been known to get up to the $10 million mark! We have live jackpot tickers on the site (in the jackpot section) that’ll keep you up to date with the biggest and best pokie jackpots available. So check them out and good luck in bringing home the big money!