Booming pokies growth numbers in Cairns finally look to be rolling over in line with broader trends for Queensland.

These are the LGA for Cairns and Townsville Councils. Caution around that though as modest 0.8% growth in January for Cairns may be impacted by rain and flooding towards the end of the month. Townsville was down -1.1% on the previous January but most rainfall and flooding has been in February.

Cairns City SA2 (ex casino) was down -4.6% on the previous January. Douglas was down a whopping -20.2% but that was mostly because January 2018 was one of those mysterious bumps with an unseasonal splurge by losing punters that year. Cairns Regional Council ex the City SA2 which has about 60% of operating EGM’s in the region (ex casino) held up with 2% growth for the month.

Reef Casino is not included in any of these numbers which has I think has about 500 or 20% of approved EGM’s within the Cairns LGA. Pokies at the casino have been under pressure with competition from pubs and clubs so total growth for Cairns may be lower than indicated. Will look at the further with the imminent RCT annual results.

I should update previous regional data which showed growth in 2018  was weighted to regions outside SEQ.

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