February Pokies
February is typically the bottom month for most things in Cairns except rainfall. Pokies followed the seasonal trend but remain comfortably above pre-pandemic levels.
Growth rates appear to be reverting again towards more realistic levels but that’s what I said back in November.
Monthly growth rates since reopening tabulated and it’s the surrounding Cairns Regions which continue to stand out.
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | |
| Queensland | 31.8% | 21.8% | 20.6% | 16.3% | 8.6% | 21.6% | 8.12% | 6.87% |
| Cairns SA4 | 49.7% | 38.0% | 36.4% | 25.7% | 14.2% | 64.6% | 31.1% | 16.2% |
| Cairns LGA | 51.5% | 37.5% | 32.1% | 24.3% | 11.2% | 62.5% | 29.2% | 12.3% |
| Townsville LGA | 43.9% | 32.7% | 30.7% | 19.1% | 10.8% | 37.1% | 14.6% | 12.2% |
| Cairns Regions* | 44.1% | 39.6% | 49.8% | 29.8% | 23.4% | 71.4% | 36.5% | 28.3% |
| City SA2 | 64.9% | 47.7% | 31.5% | 17.0% | 14.6% | 53.1% | 24.0% | 9.8% |
| Douglas LGA | 27.7% | 12.5% | 33.1% | 11.4% | 0.7% | 88.1% | 47.2% | 11.6% |
| Tableland** | 40.9% | 55.7% | 67.5% | 34.3% | 22.4% | 74.7% | 34.1% | 46.2% |
| Cassowary LGA | 56.7% | 38.5% | 41.4% | 36.1% | 37.6% | 60.0% | 34.1% | 18.1% |
| Innisfail SA2 | 67.4% | 44.4% | 52.9% | 48.0% | 53.6% | 73.4% | 28.2% | 15.8% |
| Tully SA2 | 47.1% | 29.7% | 34.1% | 26.6% | 27.5% | 47.8% | 46.1% | 20.5% |
| * Cairns Regions = Cairns SA4 ex Cairns LGA | ||||||||
| ** Tableland LGA + Mareeba LGA derived | ||||||||
The Tableland numbers here are derived as both the Mareeba and Tableland Shire have less than the six venues required for release of numbers. The very high February growth rate on the Tableland is at least partially attributed to a low 2020 value which had been a negative growth month.
Reef Casino recent annual result and commentary aligns with the pokie trends here although table games, food and accommodation were negative. Currently catching up on this while sojourning on the NSW mid-north coast where they reckon the pandemic economy has been just fabulous.
cairnseconomy 