A profile of Sydney club members: implications for strategic management in a newly competitive environment

Registered clubs in New South Wales Australia have enjoyed a privileged competitive position for four decades, being the only providers of machine gambling in the state. However, increased competition for this core product and heightened awareness of its social impacts, as reflected in two recent government inquiries, point to a need to reassess their strategic direction, an exercise benefiting from comprehensive knowledge of market characteristics. Accordingly, this paper reports on a study of 3,000 members of six large Sydney clubs, profiling them in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, club patronage, participation in club activities, and gambling behaviour. The results confirm the role of large Sydney clubs as multi-functional leisure establishments, catering to middle-aged, working class patrons with their key revenue generating markets drawn from lower socio-economic groups. Implications of the findings are presented as alternatives for clubs such as those sampled to pursue strategies of market penetration, market development, product development or diversification to sustain their long-term competitiveness.