In Australia’s sports industry, plenty of clubs receive funding from poker machine profits, but many AFL clubs have steered away from any association with the gambling market. Now the Greater Western Sydney Giants are considering enlisting in the help of pokie profits, which would make it one of 12 AFL teams to derive funding from gaming machines.

Having been founded in 2009 and making its debut in 2012, the Giants are a relatively new team to the AFL. The team’s debut season was particularly disappointing, as the Giants came last. They experienced several big losses, losing many games by 80 points or more. The Giants finished the season with a percentage of 46.17, which is the lowest of any team since 1991.

An increase in funding could certainly help to boost the team’s performance, and club owners are looking for outside assistance. Since The Giants have not performed particularly well, it will be difficult for the team to earn funding from concessions, so pokies present a helpful solution.

“It’s obvious that football clubs do better if they have a non-football source of revenue, and that is something certainly that we are considering,” Giants chairman Tony Shepherd said in an interview with the Herald Sun.“Gaming is one of the options but we would be concerned about the social implications of that, because we are a family club."

Several clubs in the AFL earn money from pokies, including Carlton, Collingwood and Geelong. In 2013, $10 million was poured into pokies and the money was used to fund operation costs for these clubs. The only club that has adopted a no-pokie policy is North Melbourne, as the team aims to raise funds using other methods. The Giants are still deliberating whether or not the team will accept pokie funding.

Over the course of the next few months, we will learn more about how the club aims to raise more money.

About the Author

George Anderson
Author George, has over 25+ years’ experience in the Pokies and Casinos industry throughout Australia and New Zealand. Loves to research new Pokies games on the block and follows announcements from top industry providers about their upcoming releases. As soon as a new interesting pokie game appears on his radar, George is there to check it out and give you the scoop before anyone else and tell you about all casino sites where can play the latest game. Before this gig, George worked as Pokie game tester, making him an ideal candidate for this genre of work. He is also an animal lover and a proud owner of three dogs.