The ACT government has released a new report showing that participation rates in some traditional gaming forms, including electronic gaming machines (EGMs), continue to decline.
Commissioned by the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission (GRC) and conducted by CQUniversity, the 2024 ACT Gambling Survey provides a detailed snapshot of gambling behaviours, harms, and attitudes across the ACT.
The survey highlighted that since 2001, overall gambling participation has dropped from 73 per cent to 53 per cent, and EGM use has halved since 2009, from 30 per cent in 2009 to only 15 per cent in 2024.
“We’ve made strong progress in reducing the number of pokies in our community, and we’ll continue working towards reducing machine numbers to 1,000 by 2045. This will be supported by a range of harm minimisation measures, particularly through the implementation of mandatory account-based cashless gaming,” ACT Minister for Gaming Reform Marisa Paterson said.
ClubsACT CEO Craig Shannon has welcomed the findings, noting the EGM results reflect the clubs industry’s consistent gambling harm minimisation efforts, such as voluntary self-exclusion programs, trained venue staff, and gambling harm awareness campaigns.
“Clubs continue to be part of the solution,” he said.
“We provide safe, socially connected environments and our members are highly committed to harm prevention. The data confirms we are on the right path.”
At the same time, the survey showed that online gambling has surged five-fold and is now considered a higher-risk form of gambling. In 2024, 27 per cent of ACT adults reported gambling online, up from 20 per cent in 2019, and just 8 per cent in 2014.
Shannon noted that despite the slowdown in EGM usage, there was increasingly a disproportionate focus on in-venue gaming machines while the more concerning online gambling activity continues to grow and “requires greater and more urgent attention”.
“It is a concern to us that the continued restrictions on gaming machine numbers may be increasingly encouraging an expansion of online and non-venue-based gambling,” he said.
“This form of regulatory prohibition may be encouraging an explosion of gambling online where there is no real oversight, prevention or intervention framework specifically assisting those facing gambling harm.”
Last month, two additional venues in Canberra – the Canberra Bowling Club and The Statesman Hotel – voluntarily surrendered all of their gaming machine licenses, under the ACT government’s voluntary surrender program, which has now ended.
Under the program, a total of 28 different venues surrendered gaming machine authorisations. The Vikings Group and Canberra Southern Cross Club Group both led the way with 40 surrenders each, and the Canberra Raiders Sports Club Group surrendered 38.
The voluntary surrender program offered venues $15,000 for each gaming machine authorisation surrendered, with $20,000 per authorisation for venues that gave up all of their gaming machines.
“The Canberra Bowling Club is using the revenue from surrendering our poker machines to help strengthen the club’s future,” Canberra Bowling Club president David Kimber said.
“We have invested some of the returns into a live music setup, including a stage, PA system and curtains, and have plans for a large deck to provide an outside hospitality space.
“We are also taking this opportunity to bring forward a review of our medium to long-term future. We are looking at how we make ourselves sustainable, and what sort of club we will be with alternatives to pokies and gambling.
“We recognise the need to build on our bowls-related revenue. The increased cash reserve creates opportunities that we might not otherwise have had to invest in new strategic directions and broaden our sources of revenue.”
An independent inquiry into the future of the ACT clubs industry is currently underway, with a report due to government in early 2026.
