Poker machines, also known as “fruit machines,” and “pokies” are big business in Australia for Woolworths, which keeps a low profile on exactly how profitable the machines are.
The supermarket conglomerate down under nets $1.2 billion a year from 12,000 licenses in 330 supermarkets, which makes it the most profiting gaming operator in the country. But the company’s annual reports don’t differentiate the machine profits, but the press recently got its hands on a confidential report called “NSW Clubs Industry Insights and Trends” that reported that each poker machine takes in about $100,000 annually.
At first Woolworths didn’t choose to compete in this arena, but, in the midst of battling for market share with its rival supermarket Coles it began various outlets. In Queensland it discovered that it couldn’t sell liquor without operating a pub, and with pubs came the ability to own pokie machines.
During the course of this expansion Woolworths created Australian Leisure & Hospitality Group, which eventually purchased 131 pubs—most of them with gaming rooms.
Woolworths projects an image as a family-oriented business, so the extreme profitability of its pokie empire is apparently so embarrassing that it doesn’t play it up.
