Australian retail giant Woolworths is spinning off its ‘sin’ divisions, including its lucrative video poker (pokies) machine operations.

On Wednesday, Woolworths announced plans to combine its liquor (Endeavour Drinks) and hospitality (Australian Leisure & Hospitality Group) divisions into a new entity known as Endeavour Group. This enlarged entity will then be separated from the Woolworths mother ship via a demerger or possibly an outright sale before the end of June 2020.

The ALH Group operates around 330 pubs and clubs which host around 12k pokies, making Woolworths the country’s single largest pokies operator. In March, rival supermarket chain Coles announced plans to sell its 87 hospitality venues – which included around 3k pokies – to a private equity firm for AU$200m.

The Coles deal increased media pressure on Woolworths to similarly divest itself of its pokies operations but Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci insisted that the Endeavour Group plans were “not about gaming, it’s about helping both businesses unlock their full potential.”