Privacy Policy
This page describes which personal information The Pokies gathers from visitors, why each item is collected, how long it's retained, who can access it and what rights you hold over it. The technical detail of cookies and analytics sits separately on the Cookie Policy page; this privacy policy is the higher-level document on data and rights, while the cookie policy is the granular inventory of every storage mechanism running on the site.
What this site is, again
The Pokies is an independent informational resource publishing reviews and guides covering online pokies and casino brands available to Australian players. The site does not run player accounts, does not accept deposits, does not hold balances and does not facilitate gambling activity on this domain. What that means for privacy (the broader description of the site lives on the About page): the pokies never asks for and never stores account credentials, banking details, payment instruments, photo ID documents or proof-of-address documents. Those data items are handled by individual operators if you choose to register on their platforms; the operator's own privacy policy governs them, not this one.
What data the pokies actually collects
The Pokies gathers three categories of data: anonymous traffic measurement, voluntary contact information when you reach out to us, and a minimal set of preferences kept in your browser. Each category is described in full below.
Anonymous traffic measurement
Every page visit to the pokies is logged in aggregate by a privacy-respecting analytics provider (Plausible Analytics, or a self-hosted Umami instance — the deployment varies). The data points captured per visit are: the URL of the page visited, the URL of the referring page (where one exists), the screen size category (mobile / tablet / desktop), the browser language preference, the country derived from the IP address at the time of the request, and the timestamp. The IP address itself isn't stored. No persistent cross-site identifier is set; no advertising profile is constructed; no data is sold or shared with third parties.
Aggregate analytics let us see which guides are read most, which inbound search terms drive the most readers to which pages, and which outbound links get clicked. That information feeds back into the site — to identify guides that aren't reaching people, to spot broken navigation patterns, to prioritise updates on high-traffic pages — and is used for no other purpose.
Voluntary contact information
If you contact The Pokies via the contact form, the email channel listed on the Contact page, or the comment functionality on individual reviews (where it's open), the data you provide is gathered and held for the purpose of responding to you. The fields involved are: your name (or chosen handle), an email address for the reply, the message body itself, and any attachments you include. We hold those records for as long as the conversation stays active plus two years afterwards, for reference if the same query returns from the same address. After that point, the record is deleted.
We don't pass contact submissions to operators. We don't sell or trade them to third-party marketing lists. We don't use them to send unsolicited follow-ups; any reply from us is in direct response to your message.
Browser preferences
Three preference items are stored locally in your browser by the pokies: your cookie-banner choice, your theme preference (dark/light mode), and an accessibility font-size override if you've engaged one. None of these leave your device; none are visible to us in aggregate; clearing your browser's site storage removes them. The full inventory sits on the Cookie Policy page.
What the pokies does not collect
For clarity, the absence of items matters as much as the presence. The Pokies does not gather: account passwords (none exist on this site), payment-card details, bank account or PayID identifiers, photo ID documents, proof-of-address documents, dates of birth (other than 18+ confirmation in the cookie banner), location data more granular than country, contact lists, device fingerprints, biometric data, or behavioural-advertising profiles. If you come across a third-party site that claims to "log into the pokies" or requests credentials supposedly to verify your account, it isn't us. The Pokies has no accounts to log into.
Where the data sits
Aggregate analytics data is stored on infrastructure operated by our analytics provider, in a data centre located in the European Union. Contact-form submissions live on the same infrastructure as the rest of this site, hosted in a data centre in Australia. Backups are encrypted at rest and retained for 30 days before rolling expiration. Access to either dataset is restricted to named members of the editorial and technical team; access is logged and audited quarterly.
Your rights over the data
Under Australian privacy law (the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles), and under equivalent regimes that may apply to overseas readers (the GDPR for EU/UK readers, for example), you have a defined set of rights over the personal data we hold about you. The ones relevant to The Pokies are:
- Access. You can ask us what personal data we hold about you. We respond within 30 calendar days with the list and copies of the underlying records.
- Correction. If any of the data we hold is wrong, you can ask us to correct it. We act within 30 calendar days and confirm in writing.
- Deletion. You can ask us to delete the data we hold about you. We act within 30 calendar days unless we're legally required to retain it for an overriding reason (we aren't aware of any such reason currently applying to the pokies data).
- Objection to analytics. You can opt out of aggregate analytics at any time via the cookie banner. The cookie policy describes how.
- Complaint. If you believe we have mishandled your personal data, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au. The OAIC can investigate and, where appropriate, issue determinations.
To exercise any of these rights, use the Contact page and describe what you're asking for. We don't require a special form, and we don't charge a fee.
Children
The Pokies is intended exclusively for adult Australian audiences (harm-minimisation guidance sits on the Responsible Gambling page) (18+). We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If you suspect a child has interacted with this site and provided data, reach out via the contact page and the data will be deleted promptly.
Third-party links
Outbound links from the pokies to operator sites are governed by those operators' privacy policies once you arrive there. The Pokies can't read, control or delete data held by an operator on your behalf; the request needs to go directly to the operator. Where an outbound link is affiliated (as described in the Affiliate Disclosure), the operator is informed via the affiliate-tracking mechanism that the click came from the pokies, but the operator doesn't receive any personal data about you from us — no name, no email, no IP address. They learn only that "a click arrived from referring URL X".
Changes to this policy
When this privacy policy changes in any substantive way, the "Last updated" date at the top is moved forward and the change is summarised in the change log at the bottom of the page (added on the first material change after publication). If the change affects what's required for consent under Australian law, the cookie banner will resurface for all visitors regardless of their previous choice. Minor wording fixes (handled per the Editorial Policy) don't trigger any of those.
Questions about this policy that aren't covered above belong on the Contact page. Read the contact page first — it lists the different categories of question and the right person to route each to.