Gaming after lockdowns: return to the slots

Jenny Lye and Joe Hirschberg

International Gambling Studies, 2025, vol. 25, issue 3, 412-431

Abstract: Australian gaming venues host almost one Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) per 100 adults. To mitigate the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, Australian governments closed gaming venues and imposed reopening restrictions. We examine the impact of these closures and restrictions in Queensland and Victoria. These states differed in their responses to the pandemic, and they both make their gaming revenue data public. We use two alternate predictions to establish how they responded: one without the pandemic and another with the government-imposed restrictions on EGM availability. By comparing these forecasts against actual EGM expenditure, we assess how gaming expenditures recovered after gaming venues re-opened. Our analysis reveals that since March 2020, Queensland expenditure rebounded by 24.9% when accounting for COVID-19 restrictions and 19.4% when comparing expenditure to the no-COVID-19 scenario levels of gambling spending. In Victoria, expenditures were 4.8% higher than the COVID-19 restriction-adjusted forecast but dropped by 5.8% compared to the no-COVID-19 scenario. Given the significance of EGM-related taxes to state revenue, we propose that these changes had differing impacts on the two state government tax receipts. This paper provides insights into the effects of pandemic-related restrictions on gaming behavior and their impacts on state finances.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/14459795.2025.2503162

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International Gambling Studies is currently edited by Katie Donnelly, David Marshall, Bronwyn Stuart, Alex Blaszczynski and Jan McMillen

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