There’s been a load of righteous indignation reverberating around the country lately, aimed at Woolworths and their ownership of poker machines. Rightfully so; they’ve just added 32 hotels to their bulging gaming portfolio, which gives them control of over 13,000 poker machines in Australia.
But what I find a little disturbing is the way the backlash is heading. I’ve seen and heard many comments saying, in essence: “To hell with you, Woolies, I’ll shop at Coles instead!” (ok, maybe I cleaned it up a little bit)
Coles are not that much better. If you’re planning on switching to Coles as a protest against supermarket ownership of poker machines, then you’d better think again.
Coles is no small player in the poker machine gambling industry in Australia. They own pubs, predominantly poker machine pubs, and lots of them. Their gambling empire sprawls right across Queensland, with a small outpost in South Australia.
This is nothing new; it’s been reported before, but everyone seems so blindsided by the massive number of Woolworths poker machines that they somehow miss the fact that Coles has more poker machines than any of Australia’s casinos.
According to data I’ve pulled from the Coles Group’s Hotels website, and the Queensland Government’s Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation website, Coles owns 74 poker machine pubs, with a total of approximately 2,740 poker machines.
This may be small change compared to Woolworths, but it gives Coles almost a 15% share of the pub pokies industry in Queensland. That’s not small change at all.
Here is the list of Coles poker machine venues. And if you’re planning on switching to Coles, remember that this is just one of the reasons why they are able to keep their prices “down, down.”
Brisbane City & The Valley
The Wickham 30 poker machines
Brisbane East & Bayside
Cannon Hill Tavern 40 poker machines
Carindale Hotel 35 poker machines
Koala Tavern 40 poker machines
Cleveland Sands Hotel 40 poker machines
Cleveland Tavern 32 poker machines
Brisbane North
Bonny View Hotel 40 poker machines
Everton Park Hotel 40 poker machines
Royal English Hotel 40 poker machines
Taigum Tavern 40 poker machines
Brighton Hotel 40 poker machines
Crown Hotel 40 poker machines
Brisbane South
Beenleigh Tavern 40 poker machines
Club Hotel Waterford 40 poker machines
Fitzy’s Waterford 40 poker machines
Fitzy’s Loganholme 40 poker machines
The Newnham 40 poker machines
Lord Stanley Hotel 40 poker machines
Salisbury Hotel 40 poker machines
Mansfield Tavern 31 poker machines
Brown Plains Hotel 40 poker machines
Hotel HQ 40 poker machines
Brisbane West
Oxley Hotel 40 poker machines
Springlake Hotel 40 poker machines
The Jindalee 40 poker machines
Regatta Hotel 35 poker machines
Kenmore Tavern 40 poker machines
New Inala Hotel 40 poker machines
Bundaberg
Bargara Beach Hotel 40 poker machines
Old Bundy Tavern 36 poker machines
Caboolture & Pine Rivers
Bribie Island Hotel 40 poker machines
Morayfield Tavern 40 poker machines
Sundowner Hotel Motel 40 poker machines
Woodpecker Tavern 36 poker machines
Mango Hill Tavern 40 poker machines
Cairns
Barrier Reef Hotel 35 poker machines
Barron River Hotel 35 poker machines
Commonwealth Hotel 30 poker machines
Dunwoody’s 40 poker machines
Trinity Beach Tavern 40 poker machines
Palm Cove Tavern 37 poker machines
Mt Sheridan Tavern 40 poker machines
The Anthill Hotel 23 poker machines
Grafton Hotel 40 poker machines
Gladstone
Club Hotel 40 poker machines
Gold Coast
Runaway Bay Tavern 40 poker machines
Coomera Lodge 22 poker machines
Burleigh Town Tavern 40 poker machines
Diamonds Tavern 40 poker machines
Ferry Road Tavern 40 poker machines
Wallaby Hotel 40 poker machines
Ipswich
Mi Hi Tavern 40 poker machines
Mackay
Boomerang Hotel 40 poker machines
Metropolitan Hotel 40 poker machines
Taylor’s Hotel 35 poker machines
Kooyong Hotel 40 poker machines
Rockhampton
Berserker Tavern 40 poker machines
Leichhardt Hotel 29 poker machines
South Australia
Hampstead Hotel 35 poker machines
Grand Junction Tavern 33 poker machines
Waterloo Station Hotel 36 poker machines
Western Tavern 33 poker machines
Payneham Tavern 32 poker machines
Sunshine Coast
Chancellors Tavern 40 poker machines
Royal Mail Hotel 40 poker machines
Currimundi Hotel Motel 40 poker machines
Kings Beach Tavern 40 poker machines
Sands Tavern 40 poker machines
Toowoomba
Bellevue Hotel 20 poker machines
Portadown Hotel 19 poker machines
Townsville
Hotel Allen 40 poker machines
Royal Hotel 40 poker machines
Tom’s Tavern 40 poker machines
Mansfield Hotel 12 poker machines
Well many uears ago I joined the protest and refused to buy any thing from woolies and thier outlets.We are now going to buy from Costco amd Aldi. I thought they ( coles) only owned a few poker machines. Thanks for the revelation.I hope there is no poker machine link with Costco.
Very good point Tom. I never shop at Woolies, sometimes shop at Coles though only for a few odd things I cannot get at Aldi’s…and Aldi’s are tops in my book. However now I see this more clearly…in black and white…it will be IGA instead of Coles! So point is now driven right home and taken fully on board! Thanks xo
coles are also one of the worst for staff conditions and duty manager or assistant managers salaries , very similar to alh woolworths, their poor duty manager and assistant manager might be lucky to pull 50k gross a year for 50 plus hour a week of absolute drudgery, thats about $15.50 an hour after tax for a duty manager or assistant, how do they get away with it, can some one tell me
The supermarket offers food for sale, if you want to protest, dont use pokies. Totally rigged game anyway
I detest poker machines and the so called skill machines that encourage kids to gamble ! It’s exactky the same as a pokie ! I’ll be growing more of my own n shopping more at Aldi !