Bowling Revenue Calculator
How much do bowling lanes make?
Four Kern lanes can bring in $380k a year in tickets alone, with only 6 games per lane per day. Use our calculator below to see what sort of revenue your venue could make.
Bowling Revenue Calculator
Ticket revenue only, excluding GST.
Ticket revenue per year, excluding GST
- Per week
- Per month
- Break-even
- games per lane per open day to cover running costs and the lanes
- Lane cost
- Published prices, not a quote
A guide, not a forecast. Ticket revenue only, excluding GST, and the first year ramps up from a quarter of your week. Finance and tax aren't in it. Break-even spreads the lane cost over five years; the chart counts it on day one.
The Real Price
Want a quote for your venue?
Tell us how many lanes and what room you've got in mind. We'll come back with a price, the footprint and the lead time, usually within two business days.
A link to the scenario you've set up goes with it, so we see the same numbers you do.
The Numbers
What It's Telling You
That's bowling as one attraction inside a venue you already run: a few compact lanes, some floor space and someone keeping an eye on them. Not a 20-lane centre. The two numbers in there we can't give you are your week and your running costs; we start at $2,500 per lane per month for the floor space and someone keeping an eye on them. Everything else is either our published price or an assumption you can see.
The presets are how a typical week is spread across the days for each kind of venue: a pub is Friday and Saturday nights, a family centre is weekend days, a tourist attraction trades flatter across the week. The lanes, ticket price and running costs are the same in every row. They're a place to start, not a forecast. Drag the bars until they look like your week.
| Venue | Games a week | Ticket revenue per year | Break-even | Pays back in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pub or bar | 168 | $381,207 | 2.8 games per lane per open day | 19 months |
| Club or RSL | 164 | $372,131 | 2.8 games per lane per open day | 20 months |
| Family entertainment centre | 140 | $317,673 | 2.8 games per lane per open day | 2 years |
| Tourist attraction | 176 | $399,360 | 2.8 games per lane per open day | 18 months |
| Brewery | 148 | $335,825 | 3.9 games per lane per open day | 22 months |
| Weekends only | 128 | $290,444 | 6.5 games per lane per open day | 2.3 years |
Not sure the lanes will fit? The Lane Planner draws your room. Not sure it's real bowling? The compact bowling guide covers that. And if you'd rather see four lanes trading, Toboggan Hill Park has been running them since June 2025.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a bowling alley make in Australia? +
It depends what you mean by a bowling alley. A 20-lane centre is a building, with a building's costs. The lanes we install are a few compact lanes inside a pub, club or attraction, and on the calculator's quiet default, four Kern lanes bring in about $381,207 a year in tickets excluding GST. Four Kern lanes have been running at Toboggan Hill Park in Nelson Bay since June 2025.
How many games a day does a bowling lane need to pay for itself? +
About 2.8 games per lane per day on the default settings. That covers $10,000 a month in running costs and the lane cost spread over five years. A lane runs three games an hour, so that's an hour of play a day.
How much do bowling lanes cost for a venue? +
$92,000 for a single lane and $139,500 for a pair, so $279,000 for four. That covers the lanes, pinsetters and software, installed. It doesn't cover the building or the fit-out, and four or more lanes are usually quoted lower than the pairs added up.
Is bowling profitable for a pub? +
The lanes cover their own costs at about 2.8 games per lane per open day on the default settings. Whether the pub is better off is about what those groups drink and whether they come back, and that's your numbers, not ours. The calculator leaves bar and food out on purpose.