Media release 2 September 2025
Wesley Mission calls record poker machine losses "a community catastrophe" – $2.27 billion lost in three months Poker machine losses in NSW have soared to an unprecedented $2.27 billion according to the latest Q2 2025 Liquor and Gaming Authority (LGA) data, making them the highest quarterly losses ever recorded. The losses equate to $24.8 million every day or more than $1 million an hour. The losses are up a staggering 8.8% on the same quarter last year, four times the rate of inflation, with Western Sydney remaining at the epicentre of gambling harm. The Local Government Areas (LGAs) that lost the most from April-June were Canterbury-Bankstown ($192.8m), Fairfield ($175.8m) and Cumberland ($129.4m). Similarly, massive levels of gambling harm continue to tear through regional NSW, with losses highest for the Central Coast ($86.1m), Wollongong ($50.9m) and Newcastle ($50.3m). Despite promises from the government to take pokies out of circulation, the number of machines also continues to climb, with 87,930 poker machines now operating across NSW, 141 more than earlier this year. Wesley Mission CEO Rev Stu Cameron asks when will harm be high enough for the NSW government to act with the urgency required to address the growing public health crisis caused by unchecked and woefully underregulated gambling?
"Losses are up, machines numbers are up, gambling harm is up - and community frustration is off the charts. If the government continues to do nothing in the face if such damning numbers, NSW looks to be on track to approach a record breaking, and community breaking, $9 billion in poker machine losses for the year."
Clubs accounted for $1.28 billion of losses across the quarter, while hotels recorded nearly $1 billion, the highest ever reported for pubs over a three month period. Mounties in Mount Pritchard (Fairfield LGA), currently the subject of an AUSTRAC action, is estimated to top the state's "ladder of losses" with approximately $22.2 million lost by Fairfield locals on the club's machines in three months.
Cameron says the losses are catastrophic and the silence from government is deafening.
"These are not just statistics. It is rent money, grocery money and school fees being drained down the greedy mouths of machines ruthlessly designed to addict and cynically operated to maximise profits.
With Wesley Mission's latest Community Attitudes Survey to Gambling Reform reporting 78% of people supported powering down poker machines from midnight to 10am, Cameron says it is time for action.
"Start with the obvious, power down poker machines between midnight and 10am. A simple shut-down overnight would save families millions, reduce and prevent harm straight away and be very popular with the electorate.
"And when it comes to pubs and clubs exploiting hardship loopholes to operate under extended hours, the only people experiencing genuine hardship are those experiencing excessive and genuine gambling harm.
