A practical guide to playing pokies at Australian hotels and clubs
Never played pokies before? You're in good company. Millions of Australians enjoy a spin at their local pub or club, but if you've never played, walking up to a machine for the first time can feel a little daunting. This guide covers everything you need to know before you start - how the machines work, what all the terms mean, what to expect on your first visit, and how to keep it fun.
When you're ready to find a venue, use our interactive map to find pokies near you that are open now.
Pokies are found in three main types of venues across Australia:
Pubs and hotels are the most accessible option. Most licensed hotels have a gaming room with a selection of machines. The atmosphere is casual and there's no membership required - you just walk in. Good for a first visit. If you're in Melbourne, the CBD has several pokies venues within easy walking distance of each other, all reachable on the free city tram network - see our guide to pokies in the Melbourne CBD including tram stop numbers for each venue.
Clubs - RSLs, sporting clubs, bowling clubs and community clubs - often have larger gaming rooms than pubs. Clubs are required by law to return a higher percentage of gaming revenue to their members and the community, which generally means better RTP (more on that below). Entry requirements vary by club - some are open to anyone, others may ask you to sign in or become a member depending on the venue and the state.
Casinos offer the largest selection of machines with the most variety, but the atmosphere is more intense and the minimum bets can be higher. Crown in Melbourne, The Star in Sydney and Crown Perth are the best known.
The one exception is Western Australia, where pokies are not permitted in pubs or clubs. Crown Perth is the only venue in WA with gaming machines.
Clubs vary in their entry requirements. Some are completely open to the public with no sign-in required. Others ask visitors to sign in at the front desk. Some require you to become a member if you live within a certain radius of the venue, while allowing people from further away to enter as guests. The rules depend on the individual club, its licence conditions and the state it operates in. Just ask at the front desk when you arrive if you're unsure.
Many clubs also have a dress standard. A common rule - particularly in RSLs and larger clubs - is that hats and caps are not permitted in the gaming room. This is primarily for security camera visibility, as a pulled-down cap can obscure a person's face. If you're turned away at the door for a hat, it's not personal - just take it off and you'll be fine.
Bringing money. Most modern machines use TITO - Ticket In, Ticket Out. You load credits by inserting cash directly into the machine. When you're done, press the Cash Out button and the machine prints a ticket showing your remaining balance. You can insert that ticket into another machine to keep playing, or take it to a redemption kiosk or the cashier to get your money back. Every venue has a cashier where you can get change or cash out, and most also have self-service redemption kiosks.
Getting cash at a venue. Most clubs have an ATM or EFTPOS facility if you need to withdraw cash. By law, EFTPOS machines cannot be located inside the gaming room itself - you'll usually find them just outside the gaming room entrance or near the bar. At many venues you'll need to speak to bar staff or the cashier first to initiate a withdrawal, rather than being able to do it yourself at a terminal. There's usually a small fee for cash withdrawals - typically around $3 - so it's worth bringing enough cash with you to avoid it.
Player cards and tracking your play. Most venues offer a player card system that lets you track your spending and gaming history. In Victoria this is called YourPlay. You can register online or pick up a casual unregistered card in venue - the casual card lets you track your play but has limited features. A registered card gives you access to your full playing history, annual activity statements, and the ability to set time and money limits. Your details remain anonymous. Other states have similar systems under different names. These cards are worth picking up - knowing what you're spending is always useful.
Every pokie machine contains a Random Number Generator - an RNG - that produces thousands of random number sequences every second. The moment you press the spin button, the RNG locks in a number sequence and that determines where the reels stop. The outcome is completely random and cannot be predicted or influenced by anyone - not by you, not by the venue, not by the machine itself.
This means a few things worth understanding:
There are no hot or cold machines. A machine that hasn't paid out in hours is not "due" for a win, and a machine that just paid a jackpot is not less likely to pay again soon. Every spin is independent.
The time of day doesn't matter. Machines don't tighten up on weekends or loosen up when the venue is quiet. The RNG doesn't change.
Previous spins don't affect future spins. The machine has no memory of what it just did.
Most pokie machines pay wins from left to right - meaning a winning combination must start on the leftmost reel and run consecutively across the reels to the right. If you land three matching symbols on reels 2, 3 and 4 but not reel 1, that generally doesn't count as a win.
Some modern machines pay both ways (left to right and right to left) and will say so in the game information. A few machines use a "cluster pays" system where wins are based on groups of matching symbols rather than lines. Always check the paytable before you play to understand how wins are calculated on that particular machine.
A payline is a line across the reels where matching symbols must land for you to win. The original pokie machines had a single horizontal payline across the middle row. Modern machines have many paylines - sometimes hundreds - running horizontally, diagonally, in zigzags and in V shapes.
You can usually choose how many paylines to activate. More paylines means more ways to win but also a higher cost per spin. On most machines, playing fewer than the maximum paylines is not recommended because you can spin a winning combination on a payline you haven't activated and win nothing.
Scatter symbols are special symbols that work differently from regular symbols. While regular symbols need to land on an active payline starting from the left to trigger a win, scatter symbols pay out regardless of where they appear on the reels - they just need to appear a certain number of times anywhere on the screen.
Scatters are usually what triggers bonus features. Landing three scatter symbols anywhere on the reels might give you 10 free spins, for example. The scatter symbol is often themed to the game - it might be a treasure chest, a bonus symbol or a special character - and the paytable will tell you what it does and how many you need.
Wild symbols are different again - these substitute for other symbols to help complete winning combinations, similar to a joker in cards. Some wilds are "sticky" (they stay on the reel for multiple spins) or "expanding" (they expand to cover the whole reel). Check the paytable to understand what the wilds do on any machine you're playing.
Before you spin, you set your bet. Most machines let you adjust three things:
Coin denomination - the value of each credit, ranging from 1 cent upward. This is one of the most important settings to understand: when you increase the denomination, your wins are generally multiplied by the same factor. A win that pays 50 credits on a 1c machine pays $0.50 - the same win on a 5c machine pays $2.50. So higher denominations mean bigger potential wins but also bigger losses per spin.
Bet multiplier - how many credits you're wagering per line per spin, sometimes called the bet level.
Number of paylines - how many lines you're activating.
Your total cost per spin is denomination ?- bet multiplier ?- paylines. Here's how that looks in practice:
Denomination Paylines Bet multiplier Cost per spin 1c 25 1x $0.25 1c 50 3x $1.50 2c 50 5x $5.00 5c 50 5x $12.50As a beginner, stick to the lower end. A 1c machine playing 25 paylines at 1x bet costs just 25 cents per spin, which gives you plenty of spins on a modest budget and lets you get a feel for how the machines work without risking much.
State regulations set a maximum bet per spin. In Victoria for example, the maximum is $5 per spin on standard machines.
When you land a winning combination on an active payline, the machine pays you based on the symbols you landed and how many appeared. Every machine has a paytable - press the information or "i" button on the screen to access it. The paytable shows you:
It's worth spending a minute reading the paytable on any new machine before you start spinning. Understanding what you're playing for makes the whole experience more enjoyable.
Bonus features are triggered by landing specific symbols - usually scatters - on the reels. The two most common types are:
Free spins - you get a set number of spins without it costing you anything. Any wins during free spins are added to your balance. Free spins are often the best value feature on a machine because your credits aren't decreasing while they run. Some free spin rounds include multipliers that increase your wins.
Pick bonuses - the screen presents you with a selection of objects to choose from, each hiding a prize. These are usually straightforward - tap the one you want and you get whatever prize is hidden behind it.
Some games have more elaborate bonus rounds, particularly themed games, where you might play a short interactive game for a prize. These vary widely depending on the machine.
RTP is the percentage of money wagered that a machine returns to players over time. A machine with 90% RTP will pay back $90 for every $100 wagered on average, across millions of spins.
A few important things to understand about RTP:
It's a long-term average, not a guarantee. On any individual session you might win much more than the RTP suggests, or lose much more. RTP only becomes meaningful over millions of spins.
Clubs tend to have better RTP than pubs. In most states, clubs are required or incentivised to return more to players. As a rough guide, club machines in NSW often have RTPs of 85-90% while pub machines can be lower.
Higher jackpot machines often have lower base RTP. Progressive jackpot machines fund the growing jackpot from somewhere - usually by having a lower base RTP. You're effectively trading small win frequency for a tiny chance at a very large win.
You can read more on our dedicated page: How RTP percentages work in Australian pokies.
Progressive jackpots grow over time as players make bets. A small slice of every bet on the machine goes into the jackpot pool, which keeps growing until one player wins the entire amount.
There are two types:
Standalone progressives - the jackpot is built only from bets on that single machine. These tend to be smaller.
Networked progressives - the jackpot is shared across multiple machines in one venue, or even across multiple venues. These can grow very large but the odds of winning are correspondingly lower.
In Australian venues you can generally win a jackpot playing at any bet level - you don't need to be on maximum bet. That said, it's reasonable to assume that a larger bet contributes more to the jackpot pool and may give you a slightly better chance of triggering it. Always check the machine's information screen if you want to understand how a specific jackpot is triggered.
After a win, many machines offer a gamble feature - a chance to double or quadruple your winnings by guessing correctly in a simple game, usually picking the colour or suit of a hidden playing card.
Guessing the colour (red or black) is a 50/50 proposition and pays double if correct. Guessing the suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades) pays four times but the odds are one in four.
One thing you'll notice on the gamble screen is that the last several results are displayed - a sequence of red and black outcomes. This might make it tempting to look for patterns, such as thinking "it's been red five times so black is due." This is known as the gambler's fallacy. Each result is completely independent of the last. The history shown on screen has no bearing whatsoever on what comes next.
Use the gamble feature sparingly. It's high variance - you can quickly lose a decent win by gambling it away. A sensible approach is to only gamble small wins and always bank anything significant.
Chasing losses. The most common and most damaging mistake. If you've gone through your budget, stop. The machine is not about to pay out because you've lost a lot - each spin is random and independent.
Not reading the paytable. Every machine is different. Spending 60 seconds on the paytable before you play tells you how wins work, what the bonus triggers are, and whether the machine suits your budget.
Playing too fast. There's no benefit to spinning as fast as possible. Slowing down makes your budget last longer and makes the experience more enjoyable.
Assuming max bet always means better returns. On most machines the RTP is the same regardless of bet size. Bet what you're comfortable with.
Thinking a machine is "due". It isn't. The RNG has no memory. A machine that hasn't paid in hours is statistically identical to one that just paid out.
Not signing in at clubs that require it. If you're playing at a club that requires sign-in, do it before you start playing. You may not be able to claim a significant win if you haven't.
Operating hours for pokies vary significantly by state. Here's a general guide:
State General hours Notes Victoria 10am - 4am Mandatory shutdown 4AM-10AM daily. New South Wales 10am - 4am (standard) Mandatory shutdown 4AM-10AM daily by law. Some venues hold exemptions for shorter shutdowns. Queensland 9am - 3am Varies by individual licence South Australia 9am - 4am Metropolitan areas Tasmania 9am - 2am All machines operated by Federal Hotels ACT 10am - 2am Clubs only - no hotel pokies in ACT Northern Territory Up to 24 hours Some venues operate around the clock Western Australia 24 hours (Crown Perth) No pokies in pubs or clubsUse our interactive map to check real-time opening hours for venues near you.
Pokies are designed to be entertaining and most people who play do so without any problems. But it's easy to spend more than you intended if you don't set boundaries before you start.
A few practical things that help:
Set a dollar limit before you go in and treat it as the cost of entertainment, not an investment. When it's gone, you're done.
Set a time limit. It's easy to lose track of time in a gaming room. Decide how long you'll play before you start.
Don't play with money you need. Only ever play with discretionary money you can afford to lose entirely.
Use your player card. Systems like YourPlay in Victoria let you see exactly what you've spent and set limits on your play. Even if you don't set limits, having visibility over your spending is useful.
Take breaks. Step outside, have something to eat, reset. Continuous play makes it harder to keep perspective on how much you're spending.
If you feel like your gambling is becoming a problem, help is available. Gambling Help Online is free, confidential and available 24/7 at gamblinghelponline.org.au or by calling 1800 858 858.
You can also read our responsible gambling guide for more information.
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