Logan mayor Jon Raven has accused the North Queensland Cowboys of trying to “pick the pockets” of Logan with a 100-machine “pokie palace” projected to generate more than $13 million a year in gaming revenue.
“The North Queensland Cowboys want to come to Logan and take the money and run,” Cr Raven said.
“They’re proposing 100 pokie machines in Holmview. That will pull $13 million out of the people of Logan’s pockets and they only want to give $100,000 back in the first year.
“That’s not good enough.”
Cowboys Leagues Club Limited has applied to the Queensland Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation for approval to operate 100 gaming machines at Holmview Central.
It has separately applied for a community-club liquor licence allowing trading from 10am to midnight, seven days a week.
Neither application has been approved. The state regulator will decide after public consultation closes on Monday 7 September.
The proposal comes as players lost a record $298 million on poker machines at Logan venues during 2025–26—more than $816,000 a day and 10.3% more than one year earlier.
The government data records losses at machines located in Logan, rather than the addresses of individual gamblers.
Cr Raven said the applicant’s own community impact statement projected more than $13 million in annual gaming revenue while proposing $100,000 in community grants during its first year and $1.5 million over the following four years.
“That is pathetic,” he said.
“It’s not good enough. The people of Logan will not accept that. It doesn’t pass the pub test. We deserve better.”
The council approved the underlying Holmview Central development in October 2025, with plans expressly identifying a gaming room, sports bar and TAB.
That planning approval did not determine how many machines could operate at the venue. Cr Raven said council learned the proposed number only after the State Government’s Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation sought its feedback several weeks ago.
“That’s when we found out that it was 100 pokie machines,” he said.
Cr Raven said the original development application was lodged in 2022 under what he described as a planning “loophole”, which allowed a gaming room to be proposed without disclosing its eventual number of machines or community impact.
“When I was planning chair last term, we closed that loophole in 2023,” he said.
“No other applications can come through like this anymore. We have to see the number of machines and the impact to the community with the development application.
“The use is appropriate. It’s just the intensity of that use that we have a problem with.”
Cr Raven said the proposed venue would be the largest gaming operation in that part of Logan, with twice as many machines as nearby pubs.
He accused the applicant’s community impact statement of “cherry-picking” postcodes and said the venue would almost double the number of machines per resident within a five-kilometre catchment.
Despite his attack, Cr Raven stopped short of demanding an outright rejection. He said he wanted the State Government to either slash the number of machines or require a much greater return to Logan.
“We know that pokie machines cause harm in the community that they’re in,” he said.
“The community will accept that as long as there is a return either to sports clubs or community organisations, so that the people who aren’t using those machines get the benefit of the harm that’s being caused.
“The Greenbank RSL pours millions of dollars back into the local community and schools, and that’s the sort of return we’d like to see if we’re going to have any kind of pokies in Logan.”
Cr Raven acknowledged the development could create jobs and economic activity but said those benefits did not outweigh the proposed scale of gambling.
“When it’s 100 pokie machines, that kind of impact far outweighs those benefits,” he said.
“We’re not going to get the benefit of having a local club, having the pride and being able to go to the games.
“They’re literally just picking our pocket and sending it back to Townsville.”
Cr Raven described the opposition as his personal view and said he would lodge a submission informed by responses to a survey on his social-media pages.
“The voices of the people of Logan will make my application to the Office of Liquor and Gaming so much stronger,” he said.
“Let us know what you think, and I’ll use your voice to make sure we can do everything we can to limit the impact of this club on our city.”
Submissions from the community can be made via Logan City Council’s Have Your Say feedback page.
Subscribe to stay up-to-date with news from across Logan. You’ll receive a link to our digital newspaper direct to your inbox each week. It’s free.
