The SA Centre for Economic Studies regional electronic gaming machine (EGM) database has been updated to include data for 2015/16. The database provides regional information on gaming machine activity in hotels and clubs, including the number of machines and venues, gambling expenditure, taxation revenue, as well as relative (i.e. per adult) estimates of expenditure and taxation revenue. The database is compiled from data sourced from Consumer and Business Services and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The data is provided at the local government area (LGA) level, although for privacy purposes data for some LGAs are grouped together where there are a small number of venues.

Notable results from the latest data include:

• total net gambling expenditure (i.e. losses) on EGMs in hotels and clubs in South Australia in 2015/16 was $718.6 million, down 1.0 per cent from 2014/15;
• total taxation revenue in respect of EGMs was $282.8 million in 2015/16, down 1.1 per cent from 2014/15;
• there were 12,337 machines operating as at 30 June 2016, a marginal fall of 0.3 per cent compared to a year earlier;
• the City of Adelaide had the highest EGM expenditure per adult in 2015/16 ($1,220), followed by the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters ($1,072), and Port Augusta ($1,010);
• the prevalence of gaming machines as at 30 June 2016 was highest in the City of Adelaide (41 machines per 1,000 adults), followed by Port Augusta (23) and Berri and Barmera (22);
• the largest increases in aggregate net gambling expenditure were recorded for the grouped LGAs of ‘Goyder and Northern Areas’ (up 11 per cent), ‘Mount Remarkable, Orroroo/Carrieton and Peterborough’ (up 8.3 per cent), and Clare and Gilbert Valleys (up 6.3 per cent); and
• the largest declines in aggregate net gambling expenditure were recorded for ‘Roxby Downs, Coober Pedy and Flinders Ranges’ (down 16 per cent), Wakefield (down 10 per cent), and ‘Unincorporated Far North, Unincorporated West Coast’ (down 6.4 per cent).