GAMING ROOM DESIGN
Gaming room reboot
PKD director Paul Kelly reveals how gaming room design is evolving in the wake of a pandemic.
COVID RESTRICTIONS led to the
operators set about trying to interpret the
space between machines, many venues
transformation of pub gaming rooms
1.5m rule in a gaming room scenario.
are keeping the machines more spaced out
across Australia, but with the easing of
“Usually, gaming machines sit on a 1000
density restrictions, will things ever fully
or 1200-wide base, which equals a 0.5m
go back to the way they were?
space between the chairs.”
PKD director Paul Kelly, who has
To be safe, Kelly says, most interpreted
been involved in over 100 gaming room
the 1.5m distance as between chairs
renovation projects including the Entrance
which meant the rooms had to be
Hotel (pictured), believes some of the
expanded to maintain revenue.
changes will stick. When Covid first hit, he said, machines were split apart and spread out as
20 | Australian Hotelier
According to Kelly, gaming patrons liked
– but not the full 1.5m as some patrons like to play two games at the same time. “We’re now seeing rooms remaining at a medium width apart, which still keeps the energy in room,” he says. This change in turn requires larger gaming rooms. “Gaming rooms are becoming even larger than they were before,” he says.
the extra space, so although there is no
“Venue operators are taking space from
longer a regulatory reason to maintain the
other areas to enable the expansion.”
