Liquor & Gaming New South Wales reported record poker machine losses in NSW for Q3 2025, with average losses of AU$245 per adult over the quarter, up 9% year on year. The regulator attributed high losses to intensity of play, while the NSW government reintroduced a daily machine blackout from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The record losses and restored blackout period affect poker machine operations and state policy oversight.
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Liquor & Gaming NSW has taken action against four venues over breaches of compulsory poker machine shutdown rules. The outlet said the regulator’s actions included fines, cautions or further disciplinary measures.
Victoria’s Gambling and Casino Control Commission fined nine venue operators for allowing poker machine play outside permitted hours on Good Friday and ANZAC Day in 2025. The fines ranged from AUD 3,000 to AUD 15,000; the commission also issued censure warnings to three other venues.
The Landgericht Mönchengladbach ordered PokerStars to repay approximately €39,500 to a German player. PokerStars argued that it should not bear responsibility for all losses because players compete against one another and it receives only rake, but the court rejected that argument.
The Landgericht Mönchengladbach ruled on 17 September 2026 that PokerStars must repay a German player approximately €39,500 in poker losses, plus interest. The case was brought against TSG Interactive Gaming Europe Ltd., the company behind PokerStars and part of Flutter, according to a publication by the law firm CLLB Rechtsanwälte, which represented the player.
It was reported that courts in Cologne and Bonn ordered an online gaming and poker operator to refund players’ losses. The rulings concerned activity without the required German authorisation.
A Quaest poll found that 16% of respondents who were optimistic about Brazil's future cited regulation of betting and social media as a source of hope under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. That group represented 44% of respondents, making the combined issue about 7% of the full sample; the poll did not separate betting from social-media regulation. The survey interviewed 2,004 people from 30 October to 2 November.