By ERWIN CHLANDA
Poker machine gamblers in the two NT casinos lost more than $80m in the 2023/24 financial year, the exact figure being $80,089,252.
A break-down between the Darwin Mindil Beach and the Alice Springs Lasseter casinos was not available, but as of June 30, 2024 the former had 627 gaming machines and there were 420 in Alice.
At the same time there were four “community gaming venues” in Central Australia operating a total of 150 machines.
The combined losses in these Alice Springs venues were nearly $15m in 2023/24, namely $14,825,228.
There is no cap on the number of gaming machines operating in NT casinos.
This information comes from a Department of Tourism and Hospitality spokesperson in response to questions from the Alice Springs News.
The issue of poker machines moved into the forefront of public debate when the News revealed that Mayor Matt Paterson, without consent from the council, wrote to the Commonwealth Bank “in support of Iris Capital and its continued investment into our town”.
Iris Capital owns the Lasseter casino.
The council has referred the issue to ICAC for the investigation of the letter allegedly leaked.