This month, Brisbane residents have spent a record-breaking amount of money on pokies. As pokies collected more than $40 million, August 2013 marked the first time that monthly poker machine spending reached $40.63 million in Brisbane . According to the Brisbane Times, Queensland residents spent $191.29 million on pokies in August 2013. Of all the major cities in the stat, Brisbane had the highest spending.
The Gold Coast followed closely behind with $24.23 million. In Logan, players spent $12.95 million. The last time the record was broken was in August 2012. During that month, pokies collected $39.15 million. Over the years, pokie spending has increased little by little in Brisbane. In 2011, August saw $38.29 million in pokies spending while 2012 saw $36.86 million during the month.
This has resulted in an overall significant increase in the amount of money that residents are spending on electronic gaming, but industry officials deny that there is a link between spending and the number of problem gamblers in the city. “I would suggest that what it really means is people have opened their purse strings to enjoy themselves,” says Doug Flockhart, CEO of Clubs Queensland.
“99.63 percent of people enjoy themselves responsibly”. Is Brisbane, there are 8747 poker machines in 207 clubs, pubs and casinos. Brisbane is an understated gambling capital in Australia. Punters normally gravitate towards Sydney and Melbourne, but casino operators are seeing potential for growth in Brisbane.
Currently, Echo Entertainment and Crown Casinos are competing for the chance to expand the city’s gambling market. Whomever wins the favour of local politicians could make a mint, since gambling and pokie spending is steadily on the rise in this burgeoning gambling industry.
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