Gaming machine profits (GMP dashboard)

Dashboard file showing current quarter, and historic data for the numbers of gaming machines and licenced premises in each council area, tracked since 2015.

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Dashboard

Last updated: 29 February 2024

Gaming Machine Profits (GMP) Dashboard (data.govt.nz website XLSX and machine-readable formats)

The Excel spreadsheet contains four reports. Explanations to help you understand the information, and what it shows, are provided below: Interpreting the data

The dashboard shows the numbers of approved gaming machines licensed to operate at approved venues as at the last day of the current quarter.

It does not include gaming machines, societies, or venues currently under a licensing application or renewal process.

This is a 'snapshot' of the current state of affairs at a point in time. It is not conclusive and should be read in context of the broader dataset.

Contact us if you want up to date information about machine numbers in a district.

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GMP trends

General insights

Quarterly GMP data for October to December 2023 shows a 3.8 percent decrease when compared to the previous quarter, dropping by $10,473,107 from $272,268,610.77 to $261,795,423.60. This follows a recent trend where there has been a slight decrease in GMP between the September and December quarters. This year saw a larger decrease than the previous two years, with a $3,706,588 or 1.3 percent decrease in 2022, and a $5,337,651,70 or 2.99 percent decrease in 2021.

Possibly contributing to the decrease in GMP for the December 2023 quarter is the fact that the number of venues and Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) operating at the end of the quarter have both decreased. The number of venues has dropped from 1008 to 1003, and the number of EGMs has dropped from 14,284 to 14,226.

There has been a significant legislative change for the sector since the previous GMP data, the introduction of the new harm minimisation regulations that fully came into effect from 1 December 2023: Reducing Pokies Harm 2023. These add monitoring and intervention duties for venue managers and may have resulted in a reduction in GMP in some venues, or some venues choosing to no longer provide pokies. However, any material impact will only likely be visible in future quarterly GMP analysis.

This decrease in both quarterly GMP and EGMs, has lowered the average GMP per EGM from $ $19,061 to $18,403 for this quarter, which is a decrease of 3.5 percent.
Despite the decrease from September 2023, the current quarter’s GMP is the second highest December quarterly GMP we have seen since 2015 when we began tracking these figures. The highest was the December 2022 quarter.

Regional insights

GMP per EGM broken down by Territorial Authority (TA) has Porirua City, Auckland City, Kawerau District and Hastings District remain in the top five highest TAs for GMP per EGM. Tauranga District drops out of fifth place and has been replaced by Horowhenua District.

Top 5 Territorial Authorities by GMP per EGM December 2023 Quarter: Porirua City, $26,021.71; Auckland City, $23,684.34; Kawerau Distruct, $22,096.31; Hastings District, $21,441.76; Horewhenua District, $21,335.58

Comparisons with spending in other areas

We cannot say what has caused the 3.85 percent decrease in GMP. Statistics NZ data for electronic card spending shows a comparatively smaller decrease in core retail spending, with only a 1.1 percent decrease in the December 2023 quarter when compared the September 2023 quarter, adjusting for seasonal effects. If we extend this to all industries (total retail spending (which includes fuel and vehicles) and Services/Non-retail industries) then there was a smaller 0.1 percent decrease.

Hospitality spending would generally be considered the closest analogue to gambling spending as both could be considered leisure activities, but Statistics NZ have not released seasonally adjusted figures for hospitality spending in general since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more detail on these numbers and trends, please see our GMP Dashboard.

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Interpreting the data

There are four reports within the Excel version (human readable) of the GMP dashboard:

  • Key stats - Key stats about any timeframe or area selected.
  • In detail - Dynamic dashboard that allows you to select information you want to see based on time and location.
  • Quarterly by council area (or territorial authority) - Dynamic table that allows you to compare GMP, gaming machines and venues by quarter and TA.
  • Current quarter licensed venues
  • Data - Data that sits behind all the dynamic tables and dashboard.

Two additional sheets provide help for navigating and reading the data:

  • Notes to the tables – details what is, and is not, included in the data.
  • Contents and directions – instructions for how to navigate the document and extract the information you need. It covers how to:
    • use control buttons to manipulate different views
    • uncover detail behind the graphs
    • troubleshoot.

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