The government for New South Wales has published official figures showing that the final six months of 2018 had seen electronic gaming machines in the Australian state record an almost 2.3% rise year-on-year in aggregated net profit to just over A$3.3 billion ($2.3 billion).

Six-month success:

According to a collection of state-sponsored reports released on Wednesday, this half-year increase had materialized despite a comparable 0.8% drop in the total number of machines to 91,665 alongside an almost 3% decline in the prevalence of licensed hotel and club premises to 2,514.

The government for Australia’s most populous state detailed that this data was being published as part of its ‘commitment to boost transparency on gambling activity in local communities’ and showed that such machines had generated some 4.6% more year-on-year in bi-annual tax to approximately A$856.3 million ($588.5 million).

Earlier evaluation:

The figures from the Australian state government’s Department for Industry additionally detailed that the latest aggregated net profits for these slot-like electronic gaming machines, which are often colloquially known as ‘pokies,’ had represented a 7.5% swell when compared with the previous six-month period. The data moreover showed that there were now 303 less units spread across New South Wales when compared with the first half of 2018 as well as some 47 fewer licensed premises.

Hotel hotbed:

Regarding the 69,014 electronic gaming machines that were located within the eastern state’s 1,094 licensed clubs over the course of the final six months of last year, the official data showed that the aggregated net profit had risen by 0.5% year-on-year to slightly above A$2 billion ($1.3 billion). But, the figures indicated that their 22,651 hotel-based counterparts had recorded an even more impressive 6.4% comparable boost to reach just over A$1.3 billion ($912 million).