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Australia

In Australia "Poker Machines" or "pokies" are officially termed "gaming machines". In Australia, gaming machines are a matter for state governments, so laws vary between states. Gaming machines are found in casinos (approximately one in each major city), pubs and clubs in some states (usually sports, social, or RSL clubs). The first Australian state to legalize this style of gambling was New South Wales, when in 1956 they were made legal in all registered clubs in the state. There are suggestions that the proliferation of poker machines has led to increased levels of problem gambling; however, the precise nature of this link is still open to research.

In 1999 the Australian Productivity Commission reported that nearly half Australia's gaming machines were in New South Wales. At the time, 21% of all the gambling machines in the world were operating in Australia and, on a per capita basis, Australia had roughly five times as many gaming machines as the United States. Australia ranks 8th in total number of gaming machines after Japan, U.S.A., Italy, U.K., Spain and Germany. This primarily is because gaming machines have been legal in the state of New South Wales since 1956; over time, the number of machines has grown to 97,103 (at December 2010, including the Australian Capital Territory). By way of comparison, the U.S. State of Nevada, which legalised gaming including slots several decades before N.S.W., had 190,135 slots operating.

Revenue from gaming machines in pubs and clubs accounts for more than half of the $4 billion in gambling revenue collected by state governments in fiscal year 2002–03.

In Queensland, gaming machines in pubs and clubs must provide a return rate of 85%, while machines located in casinos must provide a return rate of 90%. Most other states have similar provisions. In Victoria, gaming machines must provide a minimum return rate of at least 85% (including jackpot contribution), are prohibited from accepting bills greater than $50 in denomination, and each wager must be manually initiated by the player (thus prohibiting "autoplay" mechanisms).

Western Australia has the most restrictive regulations on electronic gaming machines (EGMs) in general. They may only be operated at the Crown Perth casino resort, which is the only casino in Western Australia, and have a return rate of 90%. Many EGMs operate games that are nearly identical to slot machines, but with modifications to comply with state law: EGMs are prohibited from using spinning reels, and must not use symbols associated with poker machines used elsewhere. Each wager must take at least three seconds to play, and each wager must be initiated by the user.

This policy has an extensive political history, reaffirmed by the 1974 Royal Commission into Gambling:

Poker machine playing is a mindless, repetitive and insidious form of gambling which has many undesirable features. It requires no thought, no skill or social contact. The odds are never about winning. Watching people playing the machines over long periods of time, the impressionistic evidence at least is that they are addictive to many people. Historically poker machines have been banned from Western Australia and we consider that, in the public interest, they should stay banned.

Despite the state having praised its restrictions for keeping gaming machines from being widely available to the public as in other states, the machines have faced criticism for being almost indistinguishable to a normal slot machine, and thus having the same addictive qualities. In March 2022, a royal commission found Crown Gaming to be unfit to hold a gaming license in WA, citing issues surrounding money laundering, failing to minimise harms from problem gambling, and the regulatory framework of the Gaming and Wagering Commission being considered outdated. To implement the recommendations of the Commission, EGMs were limited to maximum bets of $10 beginning in July 2023, while also requiring the implementation of weekly limits on play and losses, and the implementation of cashless machines requiring pre-loaded player cards to function.

Nick Xenophon was elected on an independent No Pokies ticket in the South Australian Legislative Council at the 1997 South Australian state election on 2.9 percent, re-elected at the 2006 election on 20.5 percent, and elected to the Australian Senate at the 2007 federal election on 14.8 percent. Independent candidate Andrew Wilkie, an anti-pokies campaigner, was elected to the Australian House of Representatives seat of Denison at the 2010 federal election. Wilkie was one of four crossbenchers who supported the Gillard Labor government following the hung parliament result. Wilkie immediately began forging ties with Xenophon as soon as it was apparent that he was elected. In exchange for Wilkie's support, the Labor government are attempting to implement precommitment technology for high-bet/high-intensity poker machines, against opposition from the Tony Abbott Coalition and Clubs Australia.

During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, every establishment in the country that facilitated poker machines was shut down, in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, bringing Australia's usage of poker machines effectively to zero.