Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) an electronic poker machine, used in casinos.

1965		I. Hamilton Persecutor 87: I always know how much I lose on the pokies.
1972		G.W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Aus. and N.Z. 108: Some slang remains local. Pokie for a poker machine is only likely in New South Wales where they have such things.
1979		Aus. Women’s Wkly 5 Sept. n.p.: Your horse wins, your pokie pays the jackpot.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 62: Licensed clubs, largely financed by ‘the pokies’ or ‘one-armed bandits’ offer galaxies of attractions.
1996		Penguin Bk of More Aus. Jokes 358: He watched the people playing the pokies for a while.
2002		Indep. Rev. 2 Sept. 7: I was greeted by banks of electronic fruit machines, known here as ‘pokies’.
2012		A. McKinty ‘The Dutch Book’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] I played the pokies as soon as I had a bit of stubble on my chin.
2017		T. Spicer Good Girl Stripped Bare 139: Mum passes out in front of the pokies.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 100: [H]e can see a passage leading to the pokies.