He would play at clubs and pubs all over the state, including Mounties, while on the road for work. Mounties is located in one of the most disadvantaged areas of Sydney. John, who has been cold turkey since late last year, said when he was in one of his “bad phases” he would be at the pokies every day “until I ran out of money”. “I went, f**k how easy is this?” he said.

Now in his 40s, the successful small business owner first got hooked on pokies as a teenager, after he snuck into a pub and won $1500 on a machine. It’s hard because I look at it and go, well I’m addicted so I’m biased, but they’re built to get people addicted to them - they’re horrible things.” “If I go and sit down on a machine and there’s no sound, I don’t stay on it. “I think it’s the noise,” said John, a recovering gambling addict, who asked us not to use his full name. While its annual report does not break down revenue per venue, the vast majority comes from the flagship Mount Pritchard club. In 2022, Mounties Group raked in more than $106 million in poker machine revenue across its 10 locations. Located within the Fairfield local government area, which is home to the most disadvantaged suburbs in Sydney, Mounties holds the dubious honour of being the club with the most profitable pokies in the state, according to figures from Liquor and Gaming NSW. The club has more than 600 pokies, one of the most in the state. “It’s always busy in here,” says an older blonde woman playing the Grand Star Sapphire machine - $19,000 grand jackpot! - as the alarm bell of a pokie feature rings out from nearby. The sparkling interior boasts six restaurants and cafes, 13 bar outlets, multiple function spaces, an indoor children’s play centre and even a fully fledged gym - but the beating heart of it all, drawing an endless stream of locals, seven days a week, is its 615 electronic gaming machines.Īt 10am on a weekday morning, the cavernous casino-style gaming room is already starting to fill up with a diverse clientele. Mounties, an enormous glass and steel building with a swooping curved entrance and enough parking to rival Disneyland, describes itself as a “community-centred club” that uses “our success to help improve our members’ lives and the southwest Sydney community”.

In the southwestern Sydney suburb of Mount Pritchard, across the road from the colourful gates of the Mingyue Lay Buddhist Temple, another religious institution towers over the modest red-brick homes - a pokie mecca.

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