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.

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.