Monthly Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) stats for July and while Cairns maintains a comfortable lead in player losses a sustained recovery in Townsville has annual growth neck and neck ay 4.9%.  Ahead of total Queensland growth at 4.1%. This is local council areas ex – casinos:

A curiosity is that growth for Cairns SA4 ex CRC is running ahead of CRC. A quick look through the other local councils reveals Douglas Shire as a standout with in July up 30.1% on the previous year and rolling annual growth now up 17.6%.

The monthly growth numbers are extremely volatile from year to year and Easter again comes into play on that with non-trading Good Friday moving from April last year to March in 2018. However, underlying this is that operational EGM pokie numbers reported in Douglas have increased by 22% since June last year from 145 to 177. Also the inclusion of an additional venue from 7 to 8.

Not sure where this expansion has been with currently listed details of sites and approved EGM’ in Douglas:

BARRIER REEF TAVERN 12
CENTRAL HOTEL (PORT DOUGLAS) 15
COURT HOUSE HOTEL, PORT DOUGLAS 30
IRONBAR 25
MOSSMAN HOTEL 16
MOSSMAN MEMORIAL BOWLS CLUB INC. 46
PORT DOUGLAS & DISTRICT COMBINED CLUBS INC. 30
POST OFFICE HOTEL MOSSMAN 12
Total Approved EGMs: 186

This could make an interesting case study given the region is relatively contained from surrounding competition. A keen punter would have to drive down to Palm Cove Tavern to find the next venue.

The increase in EGM pokie numbers has occurred progressively in a few stages over the past year so there could still be some upside in the 17.6% annual growth as the total increase has still to flow through for a full year.

Uncategorized