Pokies venues in Australia: official lists, shutdown hours and limits by state

Official lists of venues, state by state

Aggregator sites that list “pokies near me” copy each other and go stale. The states’ own lists don’t. Here’s what each one publishes.

Links for every list are under Sources. For opening hours, go to the venue’s own page — each venue’s gaming hours are set in its licence.

When machines must be switched off

• NSW: registered clubs and hotels must not operate gaming machines between 4am and 10am each day. The regulator can grant exceptions.
• Victoria: hotel and club machines must not be played between 4am and 10am daily, since 30 August 2024. Crown Melbourne is exempt.
• Queensland: no gaming before 10am, unless the venue’s hours are running on from the night before; not before 1pm on ANZAC Day; none on Good Friday or Christmas Day.
• South Australia: at least 6 hours in every 24 with no gaming, and none on Christmas Day or Good Friday.
• Western Australia: Crown Perth is open around the clock, closing for part of Christmas Day, Good Friday and ANZAC Day.

The limits on every floor

Each state sets the lowest return a machine may be configured to pay and the most you can stake on one spin. In pubs and clubs the floors run from 85% in NSW and Queensland to 87.5% in South Australia, and the bet limit is $5 or $10. Crown Perth’s machines must return at least 90%. The full table, clause by clause, is on RTP by state.

City guides

• Pokies in Adelaide — 12 gaming rooms from their own pages, SA’s 40-machine cap and daily break.
• Pokies in Brisbane — 7,644 machines on the register, ten venues, and when gaming may start.
• Pokies in Perth — why Crown Perth is the only venue, and how its machines differ.

Before you go

Decide your spend in dollars and leave the card at home. If you want a break from venues altogether, every state runs venue self-exclusion, and Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858 can help set it up. More on the gamble responsibly page.

Ainsley Duff

Editor, Payback Notes · Published 29 September 2026 · Checked 29 September 2026

Ainsley Duff writes Payback Notes from Adelaide. She reads RTP where it is actually published — state technical standards, provider game sheets and help files, venue pages — and puts a date and a link beside every figure.

What I checked for this page (29 September 2026): opened the venue registers and data pages published by the NSW Government, the VGCCC, data.qld.gov.au and OLGR, Tasmania’s Treasury and South Australia’s CBS, and read each state’s shutdown rules at the regulator’s page or in the regulation. Not done yet: the ACT and NT venue registers, whose sites didn’t load from outside Australia, and whether Tasmania has a mandatory daily shutdown.

How figures get in: how we verify RTP · sources for this page · how we earn. A commission never changes the RTP figures we publish or the order they appear in.