Woolworths Ltd and Bruce Mathieson paid $24 million for 4,692 decade-long poker machine licenses in Victoria during a state government auction.

It was reported that Woolworths and Mathieson paid an average of about $38,000 per licence.

The purchase, a third of Victoria's poker machine licence, has given Woolworths and Mathieson control over more than 34 per cent of all pub poker machines in Victoria.

Other winners in the auction are Melbourne-based AFL clubs securing control of dozens to hundreds of licences, and the Castelo Group securing 4.8 per cent of the licences.

Earlier this month, the Victorian government announced it made $981 million from auction of licences for the states's 27,500 poker machines. The average price paid for pub-based machines was $39,600, and $31,600 for clubs.

The auction followed the decision to scrap the Tabcorp-Tattersall's duopoly. Licences were offered for the 27,500 machines located outside the casino for a decade from 2012.

Victorian government said the money raised from the auction would be put into health and bushfire initiatives.

Woolworths Ltd operates the largest supermarket chain in Australia, Woolworths, colloquially known as "Woolies", the fresh food people.

Woolworths is expected to grow stronger. In June 2009, it posted a $1.8 billion net profit.