Pokie allegation "a total beat-up"

Pokie machine operators in Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby have rejected claims by The Daily Telegraph that they tweak their machines to ensure the lowest payouts in the state.

Local hoteliers and club managers have hit back at reports published in The Daily Telegraph on October 17 which alleged that the poker machines in Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai have the lowest player winnings throughout the state.

"It's mischief, a total lie," says Reg Lazarus, Manager of the Greengate Hotel. He denies that the poor player returns are produced by tweaking to produce low percentage payouts on poker machines in the area.

The article claimed that poker machines in Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai paid out 86 cents for every dollar, a figure that is illegal in some states and is significantly lower than other areas such as Fairfield and Liverpool, which returned 92.5 cents.

"Machines can be carded between 85 to 95 per cent payout by the manufacturers,"  says the gaming manager of Hornsby RSL Craig Mitchell. "It's not as if we go in there overnight and turn a screw to get more money."

He says that Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai has the lowest amount of money spent on poker machines per capita, therefore, no matter what rate the machines are set at, the payout will be proportionately smaller as less people are playing the machines.Pokie allegation "a total beat-up"

Mr Lazarus says the article was "a total beat up."