How many slot machines — answered without the sales pitch

Why no reliable national count exists

Pokies in Australia are regulated state by state, not by a single national body. Each state and territory keeps its own records for its own licensees, and those records are not compiled into one public national register. So the honest answer to how many slot machines are in Australia is that no one publishes a figure we could stand behind.

Machines are also added, removed and relocated constantly as venues change their floors. Even a figure that was accurate on the day it was published would be out of date quickly. That is why this page gives you no number at all rather than one we cannot verify.

In plain terms:Slot machine (pokie)

A gaming machine that displays reels or simulated reels and pays out according to a published set of rules and a stated return to player figure. In Australia these are licensed by state and territory regulators, not by one national authority.

What the cabinet actually tells you

If you want information about a specific machine, the useful source is the machine itself. Australian pokies carry approved artwork and player information screens that set out the game's rules, its return to player figure and the maximum bet the venue allows. That is published information about the game in front of you, and it beats any national total.

Return to player is a long-run average across millions of spins. It is not a prediction for your session, and a machine sitting above or below its published figure over an evening means nothing about what happens next.

Jackpots and the top prize

On linked jackpot games the top prize is not part of the base game's published return. It is funded by a small contribution from every bet placed on every linked machine, which is why the pool grows and why it resets after it is won. The size of the pool at any moment tells you nothing about your chance of triggering it.

A large jackpot number on a screen is advertising for the pool, not a measure of value. If the top prize is the reason you are playing, read the game's own information screens and the venue's terms before you put money in.

Sorting games by their published figures

Where a game publishes a return figure, that figure is the most concrete thing you can compare. Two games can look identical on the cabinet and sit a little apart on return, volatility and maximum win, and those differences matter more over time than the theme or the graphics.

Volatility describes how the payouts are spread, not how much you get back. A high-volatility game pays less often and in larger amounts when it does; a medium-volatility game spreads payouts more evenly. Neither is better for your bankroll — they simply suit different tolerances for sitting through dry spells.

Ordered by return, not by who pays most

Here are five pokies with their published figures side by side, so you can compare return, volatility and maximum win rather than the cabinet artwork.

The questions that come up most