pokie machine

plural pokie machines

1. AustraliaNew ZealandSynonym of slot machine (“gambling machine”).

   A casino is one big pokie machine, programmed to pay out less than a dollar in a dollar.

   2009, Marcus Padley, Stock Market Secrets, page 124

   3 more examples

   During the contest, participants sit at pokie machines and accurately insert coin after coin into the smallest of holes, while all the time consuming more and more schooners. This grueling sport can go on for many hours, though the winner is always the pokie machine.

   2000, Ken Ewell, No Worries, Mate: A Manly Adventure in the Land Down Under, page 68

   Australian clubs allow instant membership to anyone, so keen are they to share the diverting pleasures of the pokie machine.

   2001, Bill Bryson, In a sunburned country, page 19

   In 2005, New Zealanders lost $2.027 billion through all forms of gambling. Roughly half of that, $1.027 billion, was lost on non-casino pokie machines.

   2008, Susan St. John, Donna Wynd, Left Behind: How Social & Income Inequalities Damage New Zealand Children, page 120

   Synonyms: slot machine