Interesting Pokies Facts: Aussie pokie gems you'll love

1. Each pokie has an RTP percentage (Return to Player). This is the theoretical return to the player over the long-term per $100 wagered. Online pokies often feature an RTP of around 90 to 97 percent, but this drops in land-based casinos. In Queensland, the return percentage is 85 percent, while NSW and Victoria operate an RTP on pokies of 87 percent.

2. There are over 200,000 pokies in Australia. The majority of them are found in just three states: New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

3. In New South Wales there is one pokie for every 77 people. The state has the largest number of pokies in the world after Nevada.

4. According to a 2014 report, 60 percent of gambling money spent in Australia came on pokie machines.

5. Between 2013 and 2014, $9.8 billion was wagered on pokies in Australia.

6. Per capita, Aussie gamblers lost $1,300 a year. In the UK, that figure is just $400 per person.

7. Independent member Andrew Wilkie has introduced a bill in 2014 to limit the jackpots and maximum bets allowed on pokie machines. Similar bills have been introduced in New South Wales.

8. Pokies in pubs in Australia are limited to paying out $10,000 jackpots. Most casinos carry no limits on what jackpots they can pay out.

9. Melbourne's Crown Casino has over 2,500 pokies, more than any other Australian casino.

10. Every spin of the pokie is random. Random Number Generators online make sure that every spin is unique and is not linked to the previous spin. A long-term losing streak will not magically end if the machine decides to pay out.

11. The biggest online pokie payout came on January 20, 2013 on the Net Entertainment pokie, Mega Fortune. An anonymous 47-year-old Finnish player hit a progressive jackpot on the game worth $17,861,813 (AUD 26,364,736).

12. Stateside, the biggest live jackpot win in Las Vegas came in 2003 when an American software engineer won $39.7 million (AUD 47.4 million) playing the legendary Megabucks pokie at the Excalibur Casino.

13. The winner's odds of hitting the above jackpot were 16.7 million-to-1.

14. However, the biggest pokie-related payout in Australia came without a spin being spun in anger. In 2014, the Victorian government paid lotteries giant Tatts Group $540 million in compensation after illegally taking away the company's duopoly on operating pokie machines.

15. Pokies have been around for less than 150 years. The first machines paid out flavoured bubblegum to get round prohibitive gambling laws in America. This was the origins of fruit symbols on many pokies, like melons, cherries and oranges.

16. 'Super Big Bertha' was the world's biggest pokie, weighing tons and measuring two metres across. It was so heavy it had to be powered by a 5 Horse Power motor.

17. Australia legalised pokies in 1956. After being introduced in NSW pubs, they soon spread across the country. New South Wales still boasts the largest number of pokies in Oz.

18. Australia's first legal casino offering pokies was opened in Tasmania in 1973.

19. Aristocrat Leisure was formed in NSW in 1953 to provide pokie machines across the country. Aristocrat still produces land-based and online pokie games, and in 2014 the Aussie firm took over American manufacturer Video Gaming in a deal worth $1.3 billion. In the process, Aristocrat tripled its pokie machines tally in North America.

20. Online gambling in Australia is governed by the Interactive Gambling Act (2001). It became illegal for Internet gaming sites to offer real-money gambling to Aussies. However, many overseas rooms continue to offer pokies and other games without prosecution.