THE listed pub company National Leisure and Gaming plans to replace hundreds of its ageing poker machines in its NSW pubs in a bid to boost gambling revenues. The company, which has 916 machines at its 36 leasehold pubs in NSW and Queensland, has some of the oldest and most outdated machines because it has been too short of cash to buy new ones.
NLG has been on an austerity drive in the past year because its earnings have been sapped by huge debts. It has also been affected by a decline in spending over the bar in recent months.
The company has $183 million in loans with a division of National Australia Bank. These were extended for two years in July.
NLG's chief executive, Andrew Jolliffe, told BusinessDay the bank had given him the green light to spend $750,000 this month on the latest machines. The aim is to boost gambling revenues by encouraging patrons in its 30 NSW pubs to play more.
Mr Jolliffe said he would buy the new video poker machines from poker machine maker Aristocrat and its US rivals, IGT and Shuffle Master.
He said the existing machines were ''series one'' and ''series two'' machines which were up to a decade old.
The new machines have better graphics, games and screens and with more options and features than the older versions.
"We've been using hardware best suited to anchoring ships,'' Mr Jolliffe said.
Despite the age of its machines, NLG has more pubs than any other pub operator on the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing's ''Top 200'' ranking for revenue generated by poker machines in pubs.
