How to Answer The Prospector and Find Aristocrat Pokies Gold

Yee Haw!

No I'm not super excited at the prospect of writing you this guide and sharing my tips on how (and why) I have so much success playing Where's the Gold – the pokie from Aristocrat Gaming, although I must admit I'm kinda looking forward to it a bit – anything that gives money back to the punters and takes it from the pockets of Aristocrat, iGT and Bally's (to name but a few of the big slot machine manufacturers) is a good thing in my book and therefore yes I suppose I am looking forward to writing this – maybe I just wanted to use the word prospect in a sentence – that's probably it 😉

But Yee Haw indeed because today I'm talking about my favourite pokie – the one and only Where's the Gold, the slot machine from Aristocrat Leisure with a feature that gives you a choice – and provides you the opportunity to kick yourself for choosing the WRONG BLOODY CHARACTER again!

Seriously, every time!

There is a key to choosing the right character – and herein lies the key to beating this pokie machine and finding this elusive gold they keep questioning the whereabouts of.

The problem is I’m not actually sure where this key is and so far my attempts to figure out how to pick the correct character have proven both fruitless and irritating.

Where's The Gold? – The Other Prospector Nearly Took The Lot!

stinky pete from toy story looks like wheres the gold pokie machine character — IT WAS ME!!!

In breaking news – the Prospector from Toy Story 2, otherwise known as Stinky Pete has tried to infiltrate the inner sanctums of Aristocrat gaming. Pretending to be the original Where's the Gold Prospector he Yee Hawed' his way past security and was almost at the Gold (the location of which is kept a closely guarded secret by Aristocrat) before his inability to bend at the elbows gave him away.

Sources inside Aristocrat say that he was relatively calm when being escorted out of the building and are now in the process of moving the gold to yet another top secret location for fears that the news of Stinky Pete's break in will spread and may be the catalyst needed to encourage some of the worst criminal masterminds from the past to come out of retirement. There's even whispers in the back alleys of Las Vegas that the Hamburglar and stand over man Grimace have joined forces again and are planning something MacNasty.

Watch this space! … or click that image below and play some where’s the gold – or at least the algternatives that allow you to choose between free and real money pokies – or you can check out Heart of Vegas Slots – the free app that allows you to play your Favourite Aristocrat pokies through Facebook and your mobile or laptop. Check out our Heart of Vegas Review and then get the secrets to Unlimited Free Coins

How To Get $10 Million Heart of Vegas Free Coins Every Day!

For those of you who haven’t yet heard about Heart of Vegas Slots – the social casino/Facebook App that so far provides over 10 million active players with access to over 60 amazing titles from Aristocrat Leisure, the makers of Australia’s favourite pokies …. then ummm, yeah. How’s life under your rock?

you must be living under a rock to not have heard of heart of vegas slots — Not Heard of Heart of Vegas Slots? So ummm, this your house then yeah?

Seriously though, if you enjoy even an occasional punt on the pokies then you will be well versed with Aristocrat Gaming and the plethora of award winning pokie games they produce. (Learn more about Aristocrat and what Len Ainsworth attributes their success to at this link here) Furthermore, you’ll probably have a few favourites of your own – and I’ll bet one of them is either 5 Dragons, Big Red or Queen of the Nile 😉

Unless you’re a bit slow on the uptake (or you genuinely do live under a rock and it’s taking a while to roll the damn boulder back into place) you will have put two and two together and realised that with Heart of Vegas Slots App you can play Aristocrat Pokies Totally Free – but like most of the free things in life there’s a catch… or in this case a credit basket with a hole in it…

Welcome to Heart of Vegas Slots – Have Some Free Coins

When you first log in to Heart of Vegas it generally requires that you connect via your Facebook account – a completely normal and acceptable process in this social gaming and interconnected world we live in – and as part of this connect you are given 2 million Free coins – or HoV Credits as I like to call them (they are not coins or real money after all) and if you are like myself or any of the other millions of players out there you will excitedly spend the lot of your 2 million free credits within an hour or so – leaving you staring at your iPad and wondering why on earth the bets are as high as $1,000,000 a press?!?! – no really?! – check out our Heart of Vegas Slots Review where we rant a bit about this (among many other things LOL) – because trust me, you’ll be so stoked with the fact you can finally play your favourite Aristocrat Pokies from the comfort of your home or the bus home from work that you’ll spend the lot before you realise you were even getting low in the first place. And then you’ll be like …. well like Chris Rock below 😀

you all got any more heart of vegas free coins — Spend your free coins and soon enough you too will get the itch

Luckily though the free coins and daily credits just keep on coming…. slightly anyway.

Welcome Back to Heart of Vegas – Have Some More Free Coins

Not only do you get to enjoy 2 million free coins from Heart of Vegas to play the many awesome titles from Aristocrat Pokies, the daily wheel provides you the chance to spin up to 250,000 Hov Credits – and this is on top of up to 60,000 extra credits just for having friends and coming back repeatedly! It seems the guys at Aristocrat and Heart of Vegas are looking after the free social casino crowd… at least that’s the impression they want you to get.

The True Value of Heart of Vegas Coins

The key to any good magic trick is misdirection. Create your illusion and then remember to keep your audience focused on that which is not important and you can get away with murder – well sort of anyway. And this is exactly what Aristocrat have done with the Heart Of Vegas Slots app – created the illusion of wealth while using free coins and daily bonus wheels to keep us distracted from the fact that the value of the ‘credits’ we deal with in this virtual social casino world are arbitrary at best.

While we’ve all been living in the same world (generally speaking) and applying the same values to things, the people over in the social casino world are dramatically shifting what that implied value is – and in so doing are creating a false sense of hope and a detachment from reality that can actually reinforce real money gambling in many players. Wait what?!?

Yeah WTF Dude?! – OK seems I have spent too long looking at stats, facts and figures because my world has been reduced to mere proportionate numbers, relative metrics and other confusing shit I haven’t thought about since high school!

Basically the problem (as we alluded to in our initial rant and the official Heart of Vegas Slots Review <– Follow that link people) is that the amount you gamble for each press of the button is … well it’s ridiculous quite frankly.

Would you ever bet $2500 for every press of the pokie if you were playing for real cash? Hell no, and no-one in their right mind would either. Well that staggeringly huge amount of money is the LEAST AMOUNT YOU CAN BET – with the highest amounts in the Hi-Roller room being in excess of $50,000,000 a press – yes you read that right, that’s FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS!

*Imagine how many sharks with freaking laser beams attached to their heads that would buy!

50 Million dollars?!?! Well shit, we’d better figure out a way to get more than a 1 or 200,000 free HoV credits each day then hadn’t we!

How To Get Millions of Free Coins Every Day!

The key to accessing over $5 million Heart of Vegas free coins each and every day is friendship.

Be a good friend and love thy neighbour and.… fuck that, take your Kumbaya loving hippy crap and stick it in a pipe and smoke it – or whatever it is you do.

Friendship is important in life, and now that we’ve got Heart of Vegas Slots on Facebook, friendship is more important than ever – because for every friend you have that plays HoV you can get 50,000 free coins (assuming they are good gifters*)

From Little Thing, Big Things Grow

Some prefer to use the power of the sun combined with a chemical reaction (in this case photosynthesis) to grow. There are also some that choose steroids or enhanced drugs to increase or ‘aid’ their growth – and others still who use others to build themselves up (to their detriment and otherwise). But today we’re focusing on those of us who like to grow …their Heart of Vegas Balance!

$50,000 Heart of Vegas Coins is nothing – in fact it’s two presses of Big Red or Queen of the Nile – at a minimum! but as the many expressions go – it all adds up, every little bit counts and as many need reminding, You can’t make friends with salad. Remember this and you’ll see it play out each and every day as your Heart of Vegas Free Coins come flooding in to provide you a healthy Balance that is constantly getting topped up – assuming you’ve used Facebook to make friends and not salad.

Seriously though…. Friends do this for you… EVERY DAY

Later that same day…

And the next day…

And the next day… or maybe this was later on the same day? – meh – too many Heart of Vegas Free Coins to keep up. #Firstworldproblems much 😀

Facebook Friends. How Many HoV You Got?

Let’s all take a moment to appreciate how freaking awesome that Pun of mine is….. and of course the rhetorical question contained within…..

And now allow me to answer that rhetorical question…… (what? – don’t even go there, seriously it’s been a long day OK)

How To Get Heart of Vegas Friends Who Gift

The key to maximising the amount of free coins you get each and every day is in finding friends on Facebook who are not only active HOV Players but also who actually use the ‘gift’ function to share the $50,000 Free Coins that each ‘gift’ generates.

Facebook Groups are the key to maximising your HoV Friends list and keeping it full of regular gifters and other players who genuinely love the game for the game sake and gift because they like getting the free coins in return. In fact I’d recommend these groups to anyone who just wants to play the game without any political BS or idiotic trolls making life irritating – which seems to be the norm for most hobbies and online activities these days.

To find Heart of Vegas Gifters you only need use the search function in Facebook – and I’d recommend running a search query for both ‘Heart of Vegas’ and ‘HoV’ as you wil find many groups under both terms. Then simply request to join and when y ou do make sure you actively add people as friends.

Here is an example of a good (and highly active) Group designed specifically for HoV players to grow their ‘friends who play HoV and Gift’ list –> HOV Daily Gifter Group – Add For Friends (no really, that is the name of the group)

I would recommend creating a new friends list in Facebook and keeping your HoV activity seperate to your regular feed – unless you want to tell your friends and family you play Heart of Vegas… over and over and over and over again?*

*Only funny when the game you are playing is Groundhog day or something 😉

How I generate $5 – $10 Million in Heart of Vegas Free Coins Every Day

Your Gift inbox will hold up to 100 Gifts – which if you’ve done the maths (and I know you have, you’re a pokie player after all) equates to $5000,000 in Heart of Vegas Free Coins.

*Do this twice a day and generate $10,000,000 in Heart of Vegas Free Coins every single day – oh and that’s not even counting the hourly 10,000 you collect or the daily allegiance bonuses and other random free coin gifts that HoV Slots occasionally does.

Then I usually make this face…

Whether you are playing for fun or stress relief, to simply kill time or you are doing it for Sparta – the fact remains :

And even though I know I should save the free coins or at least start with smaller bet increments so as to make the enjoyment of playing the free pokies last, Ain’t NOBODY got time for that!

Besides, I’ll just get another 10 million free coins tomorrow. BOOM

Woolworths Push For Yet More Pokies!

Woolworths and their Licensed Hotel interests are systematically sucking the life out of Australia one community at a time through their 13,500+ pokie machines scattered across 328 Hotels and Licensed Venues. Now however it seems they’ve stepped up their campaigns and are attacking communities from multiple (hotel) fronts.

When $50 Million Is Not Enough

Woolworths and the ALH Group already take $50 million from the residents of Whittlesea each and every year… but in the typical greedy manner in which corporations act, they are now pushing for another 40 pokies at yet another South Morang Pub.

A few days ago our friends over at RSLPokies.com revealed how the Woolworths group are planning on targeting children in their pubs and shared some frightening revelations about the groups plans moving forward (Let’s just say that are NOT in the best interest of the country or individuals!) Well it seems our good friends overs at Woolworths the Fuck You Australia People are at it again, this time however they’ve decided to go and pick on an old friend again…

Woolworths Vs. Whittlesea

Woolworths want more pokies in whittlesea - which already suffers — Krishna Batmesswaran, Nessie Sayar and Olivia Naidoo support the Whittlesea Interagency Taskforce on Gambling's campaign to stop plans for 40 pokie machines to be installed at the Commercial Hotel.

Woolworths & The Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALHG) –
“Let’s Install another 40 Pokies into South Morang and then Whittle’ See how bad we fuck the community”

The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) –
“Haha sure thing, we LOVE approving requests for more pokies, in fact we approve over 94% of applications!”

Common Sense, Reasoning and The Good People of Whittlesea –
Woolworths venues already take over $50 million in pokies losses from Whittlesea, they don't need more. This is money which will leave our neighbourhood and won't come back.

Woolworths Monopoly?

The ALHG owns 305 machines across 3 licensed hotels in the Whittlesea area, including Mill Park's Plough Hotel, the Bundoora Hotel, and the Excelsior Hotel in Thomastown.

These same 3 Hotels accounted for almost half of the $111 million lost by gamblers at the city of Whittlesea's 10 pokies venues in the 2015/16 financial year.

$275,000 Lost Every Day in Whittlesea!

Whittlesea Mayor Stevan Kozmevski said the municipality already had 691 machines which claimed $275,000 each day.

Poker machines have a terrible impact on our community and there are very clear links between poker machine losses and social problems including increased crime and family breakdown, Cr Kozmevski said.

These losses are not surprising as the poker machines are programmed to con €” every push of a poker machine (button) is fixed so that users lose money.

Commercial Hotel manager Natalee Melaney or ALHG representatives could not be reached for comment.

The Same (sad) Old Story

This is not the first time Whittlesea residents have had to stand up against the Hotels and the VCGLR, as these two articles clearly show:

2013 – Posters likening gambling to smoking are popping up across Melbourne's north as part of a new Whittlesea Interagency Taskforce on Gambling – See Article in Star Weekly
Whittlesea council has refused to issue a permit for another 20 poker machines for the Bridge Inn in Mernda. – See Article in Star Weekly
See original source article and followup resources by visiting this article on the HeraldSun.com.au

Heart of Vegas Slots – Big Wins & Bonus Features

Heart of Vegas Slots – My Big Wins and Memorable Moments

Morning my fellow HoV players – thought I’d do something a little different from the typical reviews and write ups that so many players provide about Heart of Vegas and share the more fun side of this free social casino app – the big wins and awesome features I have got whilst playing the game. Keep in mind these are proportionate to the fact I can never afford to bet more than 50k a hit LOL

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO SHARE YOUR BIG WINS AND JACKPOTS – keep in mind these are proportionate to the fact I can never afford to bet more than 50k a hit LOL

So without further ado, please enjoy my biggest wins and most memorable moments whilst playing the free social casino app Heart of Vegas Slots. – Oh and for those who have no idea what I am talking about – fill yourself in on everything by first reading about Aristocrat and Heart of Vegas Slots and then get the low-down on what it is really like to play over at PlayPokies.com.au – Australia’s home for Aristocrat Pokies online.

Read Our Full Heart of Vegas Slots App Review

And now allow me to share with you some of my favourite moments and biggest wins from playing Heart of Vegas Slots

My Biggest Heart of Vegas Slots Wins

First image shows a $6million+ win FROM ONLY $12K BET – did this when I got the entire screen filled with WILD coins during the feature – amazing stuff!

Second image shows another awesome win – this time on 5 Dragons – and shortly after the last win – credits at this point were at an all time high of 13million+

Third image is just cool – 5 Dynamite feature symbols at once for a healthy win – but not that healthy cause I ALWAYS CHOOSE THE WORST CHARACTER LOL

*Learn How to pick the right character every time with our Where’s The Gold Pokie Guide

Fourth and final image shows my first ever Progressive Jackpot – shortly after this I got 5 Aces 6 times over and the final symbol was a progressive so I actually won the minor $600k jackpot 6 times over!

Feel free to share your own big pokie wins and Heart of Vegas awesome moments

More Proof That The Only Pokie Winners Are The Pubs

Not-For-Profit Community Clubs?! You Mean Not-For-Community Profit Clubs!

Full story and original source article can be found at the Gladestone Observer or by following THIS LINK HERE

Since the start of the year the desperate, drunk and happy-go-lucky pokie punters in Gladstone have fed slightly more than $9.5 million dollars into 659 approved gaming machines at 25 venues around the region.

But, in what some are calling a consolation prize – we here at OnlinePokies.com.au are calling it a kick in the teeth and the ultimate insult to the people of Gladstone – given the millions of dollars pokie machines take out of the community, six not-for-profit community organisations in Gladstone have joined in a share of more than $150,000 as part of the latest round of the Gambling Community Benefit Fund grants.

Ooooh how nice of your apparent Community Clubs to invest some money back into the community. NOT!! But before you start feeling a sense of compassion for the community clubs in Gladstone let’s take a look at how things have been looking over the last few years – because surely figure like this don’t just appear overnight. It usually takes a controlled effort to increase pokie addiction and gambling costs that dramatically.

December 2014 – Gladstone Still one of the State’s Gambling Hotspots. (image below from same article showing statistics for gambling in 2014)

May 2015 – Punters in Gladstone lose $3 million in one month

Club Profits – But At What Cost?

As a means of returning money received from taxes on gaming revenue, each year the Queensland Government reinvests a portion of this money into community organisations – at least this is what is supposed to happen.

The issue isnt how much these Not-For-Profit clubs are investing but where they are investing it. According to the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, at least 8% of pokie revenue (tax) received by the clubs must be inveested into the community to combat problem gambling and go towards harm minimisation…. Well at last check, the clubs of Victoria (for example) had given 0.1% of their pokie profits towards problem gambling and harm minimisation – the rest they spent on bigger venues and sporting fields to grow their own club and in turn encourage more gamblers to play their pokies.

Amazingly, the Victorian Gaming Commission approves this year in and year out – it seems the VCGLR are the ones with the biggest pokie addiction – Learn more about the extent of the corruption in Victoria HERE

evidence of how little the clubs help their community

Gladstone Community Recipients

This round the lucky recipients included Boyne Island Tannum Sands Saints Aussie rules club ($30,000); Boyne Valley Canoe Association ($35,000); Canoe Point Outriggers ($32,000); Endeavour Foundation Gladstone in-home support ($1400); Gladstone Aussie rules club ($21,000); and, Gladstone Clay Target Club ($34,000).

The grant money will go towards constructing sheds, grandstands and purchasing equipment.

BITS Saints president Andrew McMahon said the money his club received will go towards putting in a new grandstand which he hopes will go a long way in helping the club secure the opportunity to host a grand final.

“Over the years we’ve built up a bit of war chest and we’ve been pretty smart with our money…and part of that is to keep knocking on doors,” Mr McMahon said.

“What we’re trying to do is provide seating and shade for our cricketing and footy families.

“It’s about being a bit more sun smart but we’re all volunteers here and everybody will be welcome to use the facilities,” he said.

President of Canoe Point Outriggers Scott Lowry said he would use his grant money to build a brand new shed for all of the clubs gear.

At the moment the club uses a garden shed with a few poles attached to hang the canoes off.

Although Mr Lowry has never had anything stolen from his garden shed, he said it would be nice to have somewhere much more secure to house his expensive gear.

“Not much has changed in 15 years€¦and everything is old,” he said. “It’ll be awesome because I had a look earlier and thought we missed out on the funding so when Glenn Butcher called it was pretty surprising.”

The member for Gladstone Glenn Butcher said it was fantastic to be able to offer grants to local clubs.

“No matter what happens people play the pokies, and you can call it tainted, but if we can give some of that money back then we are more than happy to do that,” he said. “Saving up $34,000 selling chook raffles isn’t easy so this goes a long way to spending money where they really need it. – Funding like this helps keep community groups afloat and strengthens the commitment of volunteers who run these groups,” he said.

Is this the real face of clubsNSW and the other state owned Community clubs?

Where the pokies are in Gladstone

YOUNG AUSTRALIAN HOTEL (GLADSTONE)

AGNES WATER TAVERN

BAFFLE CREEK TAVERN

BOROREN HOTEL MOTEL

CALLIOPE CENTRAL BOWLS CLUB INC.

CALLIOPE COUNTRY CLUB LTD.

CLUB HOTEL (GLADSTONE)

DICEY’S

DIGGERS ARMS HOTEL

GLADSTONE BOWLS CLUB INC.

GLADSTONE GOLF CLUB

GLADSTONE REEF HOTEL MOTEL

GRAND HOTEL (GLADSTONE)

HARVEY ROAD TAVERN

MIRIAM VALE HOTEL

MT LARCOM BOWLS CLUB INC.

PORT CURTIS SAILING CLUB INC.

QUEENS HOTEL-MOTEL GLADSTONE

RAGLAN TAVERN

RAILWAY HOTEL CALLIOPE

ROCKY GLEN HOTEL-MOTEL

ROYAL HOTEL MOUNT LARCOM

TANNUM SANDS HOTEL MOTEL

THE CENTRAL LANE HOTEL

124

YARALLA SPORTS CLUB INC

YOUNG AUSTRALIAN HOTEL (GLADSTONE)

Month by month takings from Gladstone pokies

	MONTH	METERED WIN
1	January	$2,511,834.18
2	February	$2,307,109.51
3	March	$2,360,262.32
4	April	$2,340,177.02

Mo’ Pokies Mo’ Problems Mo’ nash

A recent study conducted by the Herald Sun and subsequent article on RSLPokies.com revealed that since the pokies were introduced to Victoria in 1992, over $50 billion has been poured into them. That is an average of $2 billion Australian dollars being put into the pokies across Victoria every year for the last quarter of a century!

Monash Residents Doing Their Part

With pokie spend averaging around $2billion a year across the state of Victoria it is good to know the people of Monash are doing their part and contributing to keep that frightening average as high as it is – with recent figures from the Victoria Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) revealing that:

Poker machine players in Monash have lost $111.4million in in the first 6 months of 2016 – with losses averaging $9.3million each and every month

That makes Monash the sixth largest loser on poker machines of all local government areas in the state according to the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation(VCGLR) although as we’ll discuss shortly, this ‘commission’ charged with policing the licensing and distribution of electronic gaming machines in Victoria seems to run on a culture of corruption and pokie greed. But first, let’s take a closer look at the town of Monash and where the money was lost.

Where The Money Went – Pokie Losses in Monash

Monash is home to 997 poker machines across 15 venues with punters losing out on the pokies at various venues and clubs – the most notable of all being:

Mulgrave Country Club's 105 machines €” $12.85 million.
Village Green Hotel in Mulgrave’s 79 machines – $11.53 million.
Matthew Flinders Tavern’s 75 machines – $11.47 million.
Vegas at Waverly Gardens’ 105 machines – $11 million.

City of Monash mayor Cr Geoff Lake outside the Matthew Flinders Hotel where punters lost over $11 million on 75 poker machines

Monash Council approved a gambling policy opposing the transfer of slot machines to disadvantaged areas and advocacy on tougher gambling regulations.

Mayor Geoff Lake, who is also chairman of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said the council would do anything to get off the list of biggest losers.

It (losses) disproportionately falls onto a small number of people who are most impacted by that burden especially in lower wealth households, Cr Lake said. It is an unconscionable that the state coffers and the private individuals and big corporations are profiting at the cost of many in out community. We can't put the genie back in the bottle but we can change the way the machines deceive and mislead people, put in spend limits … and have tougher approaches to poker machines.

Cr Lake said more than $2 billion had been lost in Monash €” the highest in the state €” since the introduction of poker machines two decades ago.

The various gambling venues and clubs that indirectly benefit from the tax revenue generated by this obscene pokie spend have also refused to give cash to community groups €” except the Waverley War Widows and Mothers Association – and even then only if they meet in venues home to gaming machines.

The council which led the Enough Pokies campaign in 2014, agreed to sign an open letter in support of gambling reforms at last month's council meeting.*

*Gambling Reforms that are being put back on the table thanks to Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie – Learn more HERE

A Culture of Corruption Within The VCGLR?

A recent application by the Langwarrin Hotel in Beretta for 10 more pokies to be provided on the condition that the Hotel build a state of the art children’s playground on the premises was approved by the VCGLR prompting outrage from anti-gambling and pro-family groups – and rightly bloody so!

A report by Monash University academics Dr Charles Livingstone and Louise Francis released last year found 94% of pokies applications by pubs and clubs were approved by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation between July 2007 and June 2014. Dr Charles Livingstone said it seems the chances of obtaining an approval for pokies from the VCGLR are significantly higher than the odds stacked against pokies players.

We knew they approved a high proportion but we didn't realise it was that high, Dr Livingstone told RSLPokies.com

The review of VCGLR decisions, funded by the Municipal Association of Victoria, took about two years to compile and found 132 out of a total of 142 applications researched were approved.

We’ll leave you with this poignant reminder

Aristocrat Pokies Online – Heart of Vegas Slots App

Where & How To Play Aristocrat Pokies Free – And Why You Won’t

Today I’m going to show you where you can access and play Aristocrat Pokies online for free for as long as you like with no strings attached and no need to sell your first born child or sacrifice your neighbours goat – or any of that stuff.

I’m also going to show you why it’s not what we’d hoped and point out the biggest mistakes Aristocrat made when transitioning their much loved pokie games to the social casino world of online gambling and mobile casino apps.

Don’t get me wrong, I think this social casino app has its good points and does provide a modicum of entertainment when I’m stuck on the train of an evening, but overall I’m incredibly disappointed – not just with the options provided but also with the way the games play (and the inherent player experience that this provides). In fact I’d go so far as to say that the only part of this free mobile slots app that speaks any truth is the word “HEART” because I swear this annoying mobile pokies app will get your blood boiling and have you seeing red in no time at all.

But before we dive into the nitty gritty of the game let’s take a quick look at what it is and where it came from…..It’s time to learn about The Birds and the Bees of Heart of Vegas Slots

Aristocrat Gaming and Heart of Vegas Slots

Heart of Vegas is an online social app available through Facebook as well as the Google Play store and Apple iTunes making it yet another of a myriad of free online pokies and casino slots games that can be accessed and played on any device through social accounts like Facebook or Google+

Originally owned by Product Madness Incand purchased by Aristocrat to launch their Heart of Vegas app (which of course contained all their much loved and globally popular pokie games like Big Red, 5 Dragons and Queen of the Nile (to name but a few) – the acquisition (in September of 2014) – see Source at Yahoo Finance

Heart of Vegas a Reel Success

In the month since the Heart of Vegas app was launched on iOS„¢ for iPad„¢, the app has reached the top 50 in overall top grossing apps in the U.S. and top 15 grossing casino apps in the U.S.

“Aristocrat is all about delighting players with great gaming content. Heart of Vegas„¢ has been a runaway success, bringing our world class games to Facebook players everywhere. The early success of the iOS„¢ app builds on that momentum and provides further evidence of the growing importance of social and mobile gaming to Aristocrat’s broader strategy,” said Craig Billings, Aristocrat’s Chief Digital Officer.

With the introduction of the iOS app„¢, users can play both on Facebook and on iPad using the same account, adding more convenience and options for Heart of Vegas„¢ players.

Heat of Vegas quickly became the best selling and highest rated social casino app on iTunes. Note that the image shows 2013 but this should read 2014

Over the next 12 months up to the beginning of 2015 Aristocrat and their online identity ‘Product Madness’ have truly taken over the social casino market with their award winning app now available on Android, iPhone and MAC computers. And where there used to be 11 of the popular Aristocrat pokies available to play for free, players can now choose from over 60 (yes SIXTY!!) popular titles.

Aristocrat Have a $123 million win …on Free Pokies!

As the big wigs of Aristocrat Gaming counted their profits and losses as of September 2015 they were pleasantly surprised to find their (not so) new social gaming app [Heart of Vegas had helped improve revenue by 145.3% over the previous year,

contributing AU$123.4 million in revenue to Aristocrat's overall financial achievements for 2015.

Aristocrat explained further that the positive performance of the Heart of Vegas apps is a result of the successful strategic acquisition of VGT, which delivered both revenue and profit growth.

Aristocrat and Product Madness Dominate Social Casino Market

As a backgrounder, Aristocrat had acquired San Francisco-based social casino games developer Product Madness in 2012. Being the publisher of several widely played Facebook-based social casino games, the Product Madness acquisition enabled Aristocrat to reinforce its online gaming foothold by entering the social casino market.

At the time of the acquisition, Product Madness already ranked as one of the top five social casino slot operators at Facebook, having more than 500,000 active users daily, and about 3.5 million active users on a monthly basis. Aristocrat reports that today, the average number of active daily users has grown to 799,840, while actual users at year-end has reached 1.089 million. Daily revenue generated average at 38 U.S. cents or 0.53 AU cents per user.

Product Madness proclaims in its website that the Heart of Vegas social casino app remains the Number 1, top grossing iOS social casino app in Australia and among the top five highest grossing social casino apps in the U.S. market. Aristocrat's Chief Digital Officer Craig Billings had previously commented during the launch of the Heart of Vegas iOS app that it is a huge success at Facebook. Mainly because app users are given access to a number of free-to-play versions of Aristocrat's most popular land-based slot machine games, via the FB and mobile gaming platforms.

Boring Business Blurbs and blah-blah-blah

The Chief Executive Officer of Aristocrat, Mr. Jamie Odell said he foresees further growth in overall digital revenue, as he anticipates further increase in the Heart of Vegas app's number of active daily users. Still, the Aristocrat CEO maintains a conservative view by saying that the average revenue realised from active daily users and the related margins will temper throughout 2016, as Aristocrat matures into new channels and hits scale.

Not-So-Boring Aristocrat Pokies you can play for free!

Want to know what we think of the games as well as see individual reviews and tips for the 10 or so we like (hey, you think we’re going to review and give you hot tips for all 66 titles?!

Check out our in-depth Heart of Vegas Slots Review and we’ll not only show you what pokies payout the most, we’ll also share some tips on getting the most free daily credits possible – because unless you want these free pokies to start costing some serious coin you are going to need all the free credits you can get. Simply CLICK HERE to check it out.

Tell em’ they’re dreaming son! (and that you don’t care that they saw it in the Trading post for 150 bucks.)

Flamin Gallah Pokies – The Perfect Punt at Home & Away

One could say it’s the perfect pokie for Home & Away but then one is already due for a good thumping for bad puns and dad jokes so ‘one’ shall just shutup and be over in the corner if you need him….

We recently posted an article that highlighted the most popular Aristocrat Pokies and other branded games that Australians love to play both online and down at the local pub – and you can check out the article here.

What this article did – apart from remind us how successful and popular the Aristocrat brand is – was point out that when it comes to Aussie favourites, there is nothing patriotic about our choices, and in fact if Big Red was not on the top ten list I’d be inclined to say it was a very un-Australian list indeed.

And that got us ~~drinking~~ thinking….

A True Blue Australian Pokie?

What if they made a real Australian themed pokie machine? And I’ not talking cliched images of the outback and kangaroos here either – Big Red already has that aspect of things covered – no, what if there was a pokie that was quintessentially Australian – to the point that even if it was placed in the main casino floor of a major Vegas casino you could still pick it as being ‘as Australian as getting knocked out by a Sheila in thongs’

And then we thought about the bloke who’s so Australian he’d tell that Sheila in thongs to “shut up and get me a beer” and proceed to throw down 12 beers, a meat pie, 3 Kebabs and a bag of chips (Seagulls don’t pester this bloke) while watching the cricket and playing 2-up…

That man of course is none other than Alf Stewart, the main character on Home & Away – who hasn’t changed a bit in the 30 odd years the show has been broadcasting! (Read the Alf Stewart Wiki for more detailed information)

Introducing the Latest Australian Pokie Machine to Hit Casino floors and pubs around the country – ‘The Alf Stewart’

Alf Stewart Pokies – The Perfect Punt at Home & Away

I was ummm, I’m just introducing this new pokie to everyone Alf. Sorry mate, thought I’d surprise you

well this is awkward….

Tell you what Alf, let me show you some of the bonuses, features and free spins on offer with our new Alf Stewart Pokie and maybe you’ll come around to the idea.

alf stewart online pokies australia — I’ll ummmm take that as a ‘yeah OK’

Alf Stewart Pokies – Features & Free Spins

The Alf Stewart Pokie is a 243 Reel ways (Aristocrat patented) game set out in the typical fashion of most modern 5 reel video slot machines and has one of the most interactive features you’re likely to find anywhere – with stacked reels and retriggers providing the player a chance to win up to 100 Free Spins with locking wild symbols multiplying wins up to 10 times!

The Feature is triggered when you collect 3 or more ‘Flamin Galahs’ on any payline (paying left to right) – and additional free spins can be triggered during the free games for even more pokie wins.

So you see Alf, this new Online Pokie bearing your name is actually a bloody awesome game that punters across Australia are going to love. And in typical Demtel fashion it gives me great pleasure to say Alf – “But wait, there’s more”

Activate the Bonus Game for More Pokie Wins!

Not only does the Alf Stewart Pokie game come with amazing stacked bonus symbols and free spins with the chance of additional free spins being triggered there is a bonus game that is unlocked when any 2 of the Flamin Mongrol symbols appear – anywhere at all. Once unlocked you can choose between two bonus games – HOME, and AWAY.
Even Alf thinks this is a bloody ripper idea and only a bunch of pooftahs would disapprove – flamin’ flaming fags’* (all said in jest, we have nothing against the LGBT community)

Unlocking Home & Away Bonus Games

Alf doesn’t like being kept waiting so you only have 30 seconds to make a decision here. If nothing is chosen then Alf appears on the screen telling you what a flamin’ useless drongo you are and then chooses AWAY – since you were clearly not ‘HOME’ when asked to make a decision.

Appearing anywhere within the reels, 2 flamin’ Mongrols will unlock the bonus games which provide more interactive play for the lucky punter. Let’s explore the bonus games in more detail.

Alf Stewart Pokies Bonus Game – ‘HOME’

In the HOME bonus game you have to help ‘SES’ Alf battle the constant onslaught that Summer Bay suffers from. Whether it’s fighting bushfires, diffusing a car bomb, removing the termite infestation from the Summer Bay Diner the people of Summer Bay are HOME and need their SES Hero to ‘Get rid of the flamin flames!’

Alf Stewart Pokies Bonus Game – ‘AWAY’

Look out for this symbol and then be ready for a barrage of Flamin’ Crows – but don’t let too many get ‘AWAY’ 😉

In AWAY you have to ‘Stone the Flamin’ Crows as they fly through the screen. Utilising the latest touch screen interactive technology we have created one of the most engaging bonus games of any modern pokie machine allowing the user to engage with two large screens in an effort to prevent the Flamin’ Crows from reaching their nest – which for the record is in the old Summer Bay lighthouse and will eventually cause the light to break and lead to a major shipping disaster, oil spill, and the eventual destruction of Summer Bay’s underlying ecosystem…I imagine anyway.

How To Pick The Best Bonus Game

There is no secret or strategy that we can share that will tell you which bonus game is the better option, it really is up to chance and comes down to your personal preference. The odds are the same for both games and are also as random. Our only advice is to ask yourself what millions of devoted fans ask themselves every day – WWAD?

Alf Stewart Pokies – Let’s Talk Money

Denominations Accepted –

First things first, if you think the Alf Stewart Pokie machine will accept your flamin’ counterfeit hunjies with the flamin’ lamington plate and picture of me – which I’d like to point out was used without my BLOODY PERMISSION ya pack of gallahs – then you’ve all got another bloody thing coming – streuth. Next thing you’re gonna tell me the bloody pooftah’s are allowed to marry each other or some such shit?!?! Bunch of mongrels – the lot of ya!

That being said, the Alf Stewart Pokie accepts all legal Australian bank notes but to keep with tradition and to provide you with a truly ~~invasive~~ interactive gambling experience the Alf Stewart pokie will reject your perfectly crisp and clean bank note at least 15 times.
The Alf Stewart Pokie does not accept coins as there’s no coin hopper and “garn git fucked if ya think I’m carrying around all that fucking spare change – shit, I ain’t that old yet ya bloody pelican!”

Alf Stewart Pokies Technical Specs

The Return to Player rate on the Alf Stewart Pokies is set to 97.3% which is one of the most generous RTP rates of any electronic gaming machine – online and offline. There are also the usual options for choosing how many lines you play and what the cost per press is – with the Alf Stewart Pokie being most popular in the 1c format allowing for 100credits with every $1 played.

So Alf… What do you think of the Alf Stewart Pokies now?

Ha ha hahaha… but seriously, what specifically did you want to know?

Alllllllrighty then.

Coming Soon…

Stay Tuned for Alf Stewart Pokies II – where you’ve got twice as much chance of winning thanks to our association with Microgaming and their Progressive Slots Network – with a chance of becoming an instant millionaire.

Bet your mates won’t be calling you a flamin drongo anytime soon when you take home in excess of $10 million USD

A New Lease on Life for Gambling Reform?

As the subject of pokies and gambling reform is put on the table we see a glimmer of hope. But with a history of practical reforms being thrown out and ignored by a government (who are actually more addicted to the pokies and assocaited tax revenue than any individual) it seems we are heading into yet another ‘Ground Hog Day’ of Australian pokies and gambling reform.

As Andrew Wilkie and Nick Xenophon join forces and vow to take their Anti-Pokies stance with them to the marginal seats in the next election (which experts say is less than 2 years away) it seems the “potent issue” of pokies and gambling reform will be more relevant and topical than ever before.
But with a history of practical reforms being thrown out and ignored by a government (who are actually more addicted to the pokies and assocaited tax revenue than any individual) it seems we are heading into yet another ‘Ground Hog Day’ of Australian pokies and gambling reform.

Original story and source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-19/xenophon,-wilkie-to-take-pokies-fight-to-marginal-seats/7642218

Wilkie & Xenophon Join Forces – But Will Common Sense Prevail?

The above image comes from the Lateline video interview of which you can view the whole thing –> HERE

Independents Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie have warned the major parties they will start targeting marginal seats in their fight against gambling.

Senator Xenophon told Lateline that the next election could be just two years away and their campaign could make a difference, making the following comment to Lateline:

“This has to be seen as a marginal seats campaign to target those seats for the next election, which according to some reports could be only two years away, to actually make this an issue that will actually swing the outcome of seats in key electorates,”

It’s Not Like They Want to Blow Up The Pokies!

If you looked at how much money, time and energy the gambling lobbyists and those with ties to the revenue stream have invested over the last decade in continued attempts to quash the opinions of Wilkie and Xenophon you would think that maybe these two independent senators are trying to get rid of the pokies altogether. I could understand a drastic reaction to a request to ‘Blow Up The Pokies’ or something but the fact this has been the reaction when all these two have tried to do is apply common sense and logic to a growing problem so that the ‘pokies’ can remain.

Actually, the length and cost to which these companies will go says a lot about their commitment to grow problem gambling and the associated revenue in this country MoM and YoY.

Because what Andrew Wilkie and Nizk Xenophon are proposing is actually a great idea and is undeniably the most logical and well thought out way forward – the mere fact our own government keeps rejecting these proposals is evidence enough that the corruption and greed of pokie tax has long but blinded our government and effectively bound their hands from ever doing anything positive or constructive.

Thankfully Mr Wilkie and Mr Xenophon can still see clearly and have not been corrupted by the money streams and power players because their suggestions are quite…BRILLIANT.

Senator Xenophon and Mr Wilkie Want:

a $1 bet limit on poker machines – This is not the first time this proposal has been put forward – the last few times it was rejected by a government too interested in the revenue stream and not even mildly concerned about the long term impact it would have (See our History of the $1 Betting Limit article –> HERE)
A ban on gambling ads during sports broadcasts. –> INterestingly this does not include casino advertising as they can advertise their food and hotel business features without mentioning the casino floor. This is a BULLSHIT loophole as most casino names are affilited with gambling and the connection is naturally made anyway.
They also want to reinstate a joint select committee on gambling reform. – One that is not easily corrupted or bought out!

“There’s one thing the gambling lobby can’t compete with no matter how many millions they pour into the campaign, the fact is there are literally hundreds and thousands of Australians hurt by gambling addictions,” he said. “Conservatively, one in 10 Australians are being affected by gambling addiction in this country and that’s a very significant constituency that can’t be ignored.”

Mr Wilkie said political donations from big gaming companies should be scrutinised.

“We need reform of political donations generally and we need to do what we can to shine a light with the current laws with where the money’s coming from and where it’s going,” he said.

Follow this story and the ensuing changes that are or not implemented through our community gambling blog RSLPokies.com

Woolworths: Hating on Australian Families Since… Pokies.

Anti-poker machine campaigners have slammed supermarket giant Woolworths for introducing a frequent gambling rewards card for poker machines in its string of pokie pubs.

Woolworths’ move is in direct response to government calls for harm minimisation measures to prevent problem gambling – but in typical corporate greed fashion, Woolworths have turned it around to serve their own best interests, effectively mocking the growing problems associated with pokie addiction and reaffirming their position as Anti-Family and pokie friendly

Fly Buys Card For Pokies?!

In December, the ALH Group, which is 96 per cent owned by Woolworths, will roll out the Monty’s Reward card in Victoria and Queensland as its “voluntary pre-commitment” measure, after it was piloted in New South Wales.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon branded Woolworths’ decision as cynical.

“What was meant to be a harm minimisation measure has been turned by Woolworths into a harm-exacerbation measure by using this card,” he said. “This isn’t so much a loyalty card as an addiction card.”

This comes off the back of whatever Woolworths and the ALH Group have just done – because I am sure it’s not good. The Fresh Food people are slowly being known as the Pokies people, and if their penchant for pokies profits continues to come at the expense of the people then maybe it’s time we all paid a visit to our local Coles 😉

Woolworths Pre-Commitment Fly-Buys Card Summary

If the following summary of what the ALH group is doing and where its priorities lie as we move toward 2017 doesn’t say everything you need to know about these people then you’re blinder than Stevie Wonder!

Woolworths to roll out reward card as its “voluntary pre-commitment” measure
But anti-pokies campaigners say it is “essentially Fly Buys for gambling”
Woolworths plans to target children as a way to drive sales in its pokie pubs

The card, designed by poker machine manufacturer Bally Technologies, allows marketing messages to be flashed up on the gambler’s machine as they play, meaning they can order drinks from the machine without interrupting play.

Anti-pokies campaigner Paul Bendat agreed the card is “essentially a Fly Buys for gambling”. “You sign up for a card, you give them a bunch of your personal details and every time you gamble on one of their poker machines, you insert the card,” Mr Bendat said.

Pre-Commitment Shhermitment

“[Voluntary pre-commitment] is the cornerstone of the harm-minimisation policy of the current Victorian Government, ALP, and the past Coalition.
“[This card] is entirely counterproductive. There is no morality in it.”

Buried at the end of the card’s brochure is a paragraph on voluntary pre-commitment – which means the gambler has the option to limit their spending – however, the pre-commitment only lasts for 24 hours.

The Victorian Government has announced it will roll out general pre-commitment technology in December.

But the Victorian Government is Just as Corrupt as The VGCLR, the gambling industry itself and the Federal Govt. that oversees it all.

Australian Gambling statistics — Woolies and the ALH don’t care what your odds are – Just keep playing OK

Both Woolworths and the Victorian Gaming Minister, Jane Garrett, argue that the card is more appealing to punters because it is more “discreet” and had less “stigma” than a stand-alone pre-commitment card. Ms Garrett (who is clearly an idiot and blinded by the corruption of pokie revenue like the rest of our government) made the following (totally moronic and contradictory) statement:

“People like loyalty programs. They like them at their coffee shops, they like them on their plane trips, they like them at their local restaurants – of themselves, loyalty programs are not bad,”

Contradictory Much?!

When asked whether encouraging people to gamble more through a rewards card and harm minimisation in poker machines were completely contradictory, Ms Garrett said loyalty programs had “different roles for different people”.
“I’m not tarnishing all of those people who work in this industry and all of the people who enjoy going out to venues and taking their kids out to dinner,” she said.

Senator Xenophon was astonished the Victorian Government had supported such a scheme.

“This is effectively a Trojan horse for more addiction. And the Victorian Government is busy dragging the horse through the gates,” Senator Xenophon said.

There are 328 Woolies-owned pubs across Australia, and of the 73 in Melbourne all but one have poker machines.

WoolWorths – Anti-Family & Pro-Pokies

The move comes as Woolworths, a company which has always marketed itself as proudly family-friendly, has announced to the stock market that it plans to target children as a way to drive sales in its pokie pubs. Wait! What?! Dafuq??!

Buried in the analyst’s report in Woolworths’ company results, released on August 28, is a commitment in its ALH Group section to “promotional offers like kids eat free to drive food sales”.

A visit to those pubs reveals “Kids Clubs”, “kids eat free nights” and children’s entertainment advertised on billboards and online.

The pubs also offer playgrounds for children…. Like THIS ONE AT LANGWARRIN HOTEL – Where owner Peter Beretta agreed to build a brand new childrens playground in exchange for 10 new pokie machines.

Pokies and Children – No Woolworths, Just No.

While Woolworths has previously committed to separating the children’s playgrounds and dining rooms from the pokie floors, 7.30 discovered that they were actually right next to each other in some pubs.

Partially-opaque glass walls did not hide the poker machines and their flashing lights from view from the play equipment and dining rooms.

“This is an immersive experience for young children that normalises gambling,” Mr Bendat said.
“And there’s nothing more powerful than seeing your parents gamble, seeing the grandpas and grandmas that they may observe in the poker machine room.”

Allison Keogh grew up with a mother who started having the odd flutter on the pokies at her local club, but became a full-time problem gambler.

“[Marketing to children in pokie venues] really turns my stomach, because everything to me points to the fact that they are actually the opposite of family friendly – they are separators of family,” Ms Keogh said.

Ms Keogh spent hours nearly every night of the week in the kids’ room at her local club in NSW.

“I still refer to that environment or that room as ‘the jail with pink walls’ – that’s what we called it, that’s what it felt like,” she said.

“Things like homework, dinner time conversation, things like that just didn’t happen.
I do remember a time when my father walked into the kids’ room and found us asleep on the floor and as he picked me up, I woke up, and he muttered ‘this is no life for a kid’.”

…Cause Woolworths sure as shit aren’t going to!

ALH and Woolworths had this to say:

In a statement to 7.30, ALH said the customers with a Monty’s card “can access and use pre-commitment functionality with or without participating in the venue loyalty system”.
“In this way, customers can access pre-commitment functionality discreetly and without any negative stigma.
“ALH are proud to operate family friendly hotels. We restrict gaming room access to adults and ensure gaming rooms are screened or separated from other areas of the hotel.
“The pre-commitment functionality assists our customers to gamble responsibly by nominating spend and, or time limits on electronic gaming machines.
“Pre-commitment settings can be set at the hotel or via the internet. Voluntary pre-commitment and responsible gambling dynamic messaging will also appear on screen.”

Ms Garrett said her Government had introduced strict ministerial guidelines for new venues about separation of pokie floors and playgrounds and were auditing existing venues.

She agreed that some of the descriptions of the Woolworths pubs breached those guidelines.

Our Thoughts…

Here at OnlinePokies Australia we think that the description of Woolworths in general has breached the guidelines of honesty and ethics – and as such it is with great pleasure that I introduce a name more synonymous with the actions and deeds of Woolworths Limited…. Oh and for the record, no I did not make this – but the fact I searched for Woolies Pokie People and got thousands of awesome banners and title images to use within moments speaks volumes for how their reputation precedes them.