Pokies history in Australia

Pokies history starts with a name: what ‘pokies’ means

‘Pokies’ is the Australian word for poker machines, and Australians use it for every electronic gaming machine, whether or not the game has anything to do with cards. It is the equivalent of ‘fruit machine’ in a British pub or ‘slot’ in Las Vegas. Card-based gambling machines go back to the 1890s, when the Brooklyn firm Sittman and Pitt built a five-drum poker machine; our Sittman and Pitt page covers that machine and its disputed date.

In Australia, pokies became woven into club and pub life in a way few other countries match, and the country produced one of the world’s largest machine makers. This page follows that story from the first legal machines to today’s state-by-state rules. Our slot machine history hub gives the worldwide context.

1956: New South Wales legalises pokies in clubs

According to the Wikipedia slot machine article (opens in a new tab), New South Wales was the first Australian state to legalise gaming machines, in 1956, and it did so in registered clubs. Those clubs, such as sports, workers’ and returned-servicemen’s clubs, became the backbone of the pokies business in the state.

The club link has a loose British parallel. In Great Britain, members’ clubs and miners’ welfare institutes can also run gaming machines, but within tight national categories: Category B3A lottery machines (one per club, with a permit), B4 machines with a £2 stake and £400 prize, and Category C machines. Our page on club fruit machines sets out the British rules.

New South Wales kept its lead. A 1999 Productivity Commission figure, reported on Wikipedia in slightly different ways, put roughly half of Australia’s gaming machines, out of around 185,000, in that one state.

Aristocrat: the pokies maker that went global

The company most closely tied to pokies history is Aristocrat Leisure. Wikipedia’s Aristocrat article (opens in a new tab) says Len Ainsworth founded it in 1953 as a side-line to his dental supplies business. Its headquarters is in North Ryde, Sydney, and it listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1996.

Ainsworth’s own story has a second act. His Wikipedia biography (opens in a new tab) says he sold Aristocrat after a cancer diagnosis in 1984, remained active there until 1994, and then founded Ainsworth Game Technology. In 2018 Austria’s Novomatic bought 52% of Ainsworth Game Technology for around €300 million; see our Novomatic page.

Lightning Link is among the games Wikipedia lists for Aristocrat. The firm also holds Gambling Commission accounts in Great Britain, for Aristocrat Technologies Europe Limited and Aristocrat Interactive Sarl, so its products are supplied here too. Our Aristocrat manufacturer page has the full profile.

Second-screen bonus rounds: Australia’s gift to slots

One of Australia’s most lasting contributions to slot design is the second-screen bonus. Wikipedia records that Three Bags Full introduced a second-screen bonus round in Australia in 1994. In the United States, WMS’s Reel ’Em In followed in 1996 as the first American video slot with a second-screen bonus, and it became WMS’s first hit casino slot; see our Williams and WMS page.

A second-screen bonus means the game switches away from the reels to a separate feature with its own display and rules: picking objects, a wheel, a mini-game. That idea now runs through almost every modern slot, online or land-based. Our guide to bonus features explains the common types, and the first video slot machines page covers the screens that made it possible.

Pokies rules by state: a patchwork

Australia regulates pokies state by state, so the rules a player meets depend on where they are. Wikipedia’s slot machines by country article (opens in a new tab) summarises several of them.

Western Australia is the outlier. A 1974 Royal Commission there recommended keeping gaming machines banned, and machines remain confined to a single casino. Elsewhere, pubs and clubs host most machines.

Pokies history timeline

The global context helps: the electromechanical machines of the 1960s and the video slots of the 1970s and 1980s reached Australia as they did everywhere else, and Australian makers then exported their own designs.

Pokies versus UK slot machines

A British visitor to an Australian club would recognise the screens but not the rules. The UK uses one national category system: the Gambling Commission’s gaming machine categories (opens in a new tab) cap a casino’s B1 machines at a £5 stake and a £10,000 prize (£20,000 if linked), betting shop and arcade B3 machines at £2 and £500, and pub Category C machines at £1 and £100.

The absence of a UK minimum return surprises many people. British machines must display their target return, but our research found no legal floor for any category. Our UK slot machine categories page and the guide to how much slot machines pay out explain what that means in practice.

What the pokies story teaches about the maths

Australia’s minimum-return rules show the same truth as every slot regime: the machine keeps a share of what goes in. At an 85% return, the long-run average cost of $100 staked is $15; at 90% it is $10. A UK online slot at 96% RTP costs, on average, £4 per £100 staked. The percentages describe millions of games, not a single session, and any player can lose much more in the short run.

1. Find the machine’s or game’s return figure: a UK machine must display it, and an online game lists it in its rules panel.
2. Work out the long-run cost: stake × (100% − return). £100 at 96% means £4 on average.
3. Remember volatility: high-volatility games swing much further from that average in any one session.
4. Set a limit before you start and stop when you reach it, win or lose.
5. If play stops feeling under control, use the support services listed at the foot of this page.

For more on the maths, see what a good RTP for a slot is and our jackpot slot machines guide, since linked jackpots, popular on pokies, take a slice of each stake to build the prize.

Pokies online and Aristocrat games in the UK

Online, ‘pokies’ is simply the Australian word for slots. In Great Britain, online slots must come from operators licensed by the Gambling Commission and follow UK rules: no autoplay or turbo since 31 October 2021, a 2.5-second minimum spin, and per-spin caps of £5 from age 25 and £2 below it. Bonus buys aren’t offered.

Aristocrat and other makers with a pokies background supply games to some UK casinos, but titles vary between lobbies and over time, so search each casino rather than assuming a game is available. Land-based pokies-style cabinets in British casinos would sit within Category B1 limits; our casino slot machines page explains what you will find there. American history runs in parallel; see Las Vegas slot machine history.

Where to play licensed online slots after reading about pokies

If pokies history has you curious about slots, the casinos below are licensed in Great Britain. Each offer is limited to new customers aged 18 or over, with full terms on the casino’s site.

Coral gives 100 free spins after you deposit and stake £10 on slots: each spin is worth 10p, they work on selected games for seven days, and winnings carry no wagering. Paying in with PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Paysafe, a prepaid card or certain debit cards won’t trigger it. Ladbrokes pays 50 free spins a day for the first ten days, 500 in all, each 10p and wagering-free, once you have played £10 on slots. PlayOJO credits 80 spins on Big Bass Bonanza, worth 10p each with winnings paid in cash, for a first deposit of at least £10. Because Coral and Ladbrokes share an operator, the terms may limit you to one new account.

Slots are a paid pastime, not a way to make money. Set a deposit limit, take breaks, and if you need to stop, GAMSTOP blocks UK sites and GamCare’s helpline (0808 8020 133) is free day and night.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Decide a budget before you play: plan a slot budget. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.