Gambling trends continue: machine numbers down but operators and venues get bigger
6/7/2005
The Department of Internal Affairs today released quarterly gambling licensing statistics that reinforce the comments the Department made in January: fewer pubs and clubs are choosing to have gaming machines but those that do, on average, have more machines.
Average number of gaming machings per venue (pubs and clubs) | |||
Date | Gambling sector total | Pubs | Clubs |
30 June 2005 | 12.13 | 13.03 | 9.6 |
31 December 2004 | 12.02 | 13.01 | 9.31 |
31 December 2003 | 11.19 | 12.24 | 8.49 |
31 December 2002 | 11.39 | 12.72 | 7.99 |
31 December 2001 | 9.87 | 10.92 | 7.45 |
31 December 2000 | 8.6 | 9.7 | 6.7 |
30 June 19991 | 6.5 | 7.0 | 5.7 |
31 December 1998 | 6.05 | 6.52 | 5.36 |
Department Deputy Secretary Andrew Secker said that while the average number of machines per venue is increasing, the total numbers of gambling operators, venues and machines are all continuing to decline. (Please see table below.)
Mr Secker said that the trends are the expected results of the Gambling Act, which was passed in September 2003, with most of its provisions in force by 1 July 2004.
Licensed gambling operations in pubs and clubs | |||
Date | Gambling operators | Venues | Gaming machines |
30 June 2005 | 553 | 1,801 | 21,846 |
31 December 2004 | 584 | 1,850 | 22,231 |
31 December 2003 | 672 | 2,031 | 22,734 |
30 June 20031 | 699 | 2,122 | 25,221 |
31 December 2002 | 729 | 2,137 | 24,330 |
31 December 2001 | 785 | 2,129 | 21,012 |
31 December 2000 | 860 | 2,065 | 17,679 |
30 June 19992 | 947 | 2,137 | 13,812 |
31 December 1998 | 1,011 | 2,193 | 13,273 |
2. Figures for 31 December 1999 are not available.
Money for the community
The Department does not accept the arguments made by some gambling operators that if numbers of machines and venues drop, then, necessarily, so do profits and there is less money for grants to community purposes.
In the previous financial year, the opposite happened. From June 2003 to June 2004 machine numbers reduced by 11%, venue numbers reduced slowly, but profits increased by 10%.
The Department believes that profits continued to increase because gamblers simply went to other venues.
The new rules changed how gambling operators behaved but did not change gamblers’ behaviour. However, the gambling harm prevention provisions that are now coming into effect are aimed at changing gamblers’ behaviour.
Profits for the year to June 2005 are not yet known.
Summary of trends
One of the biggest changes made in the Gambling Act was a much stricter licensing regime. The Act was intended to make it harder to get a gambling licence and easier to lose it. This has reinforced the historical trend towards fewer, but on average bigger, operators. The trend began many years ago and is probably due to economies of scale.
The number of venues fluctuated between about 2,000 and 2,200 from the early 1990s until the Act was passed. The number then dropped and has continued a slow decline. Operators seem to be moving machines out of smaller, less profitable venues and focusing more attention on venues where more money is gambled.
The number of machines increased markedly every quarter from when they were first licensed in 1988 until the Act was passed. The number dropped significantly when the Act was passed and has continued to decline slowly since then.
Local numbers available on this website at: Gaming Statistics
Further information, including numbers of venues and machines by territorial authority and the changes in these numbers, is available from the Department’s website.
