Poker machine profit per venue is not available in NSW. Credit:AFR According to the most recent figures, gamblers pumped $8.2 billion through pokies in venues in the Fairfield local government area. Using Liquor and Gaming NSW's calculation that regulated player return is about 90¢ on the dollar, pokie gamblers lost about $800 million in Fairfield last financial year. That mind boggling statistic begins to make more sense when you realise just how many poker machines are installed in venues in the area. The data shows that in Fairfield there are 3353 pokies in registered clubs and 479 in pubs, illustrating that by far the bulk the gambling is occurring in the former.

The area is home to the huge Mounties club so it's logical it would account for a fair chunk of the revenue passing through machines in the area. In its most recent annual report, Mounties Group – which also includes Cabramatta's Mekong Club and Harbord Diggers on the north shore – offers an insight into how poorly its players are faring. "The group continues to perform well in gaming and currently ranked number one in NSW for gaming machine profit," it says. But how much is that profit? And where is the rest of the money being spent? How much profit are other local pokie barons reaping in Fairfield and elsewhere in the state? In NSW we do not have the right to know.

The regulator, Liquor and Gaming NSW, says it does not provide the data "due to legal advice". Contrast this situation with Victoria. The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation regularly publishes expenditure on poker machines by venue and has done so since at least 2010. The data includes year-on-year comparative data, how many machines are in a venue and the name of the owner/licensee. Apart from offering an insight into who is making the largest profits – and therefore whose customers are losing the most – the data also serves as a valuable tool for those seeking to highlight the issue of pokie gambling. Monash University gambling researcher Dr Charles Livingstone says publication of the venue data does two things.

It provides better information for local communities to consider when a venue applies to the regulator to have poker machines or seeks an increase in the number it already has. It also offers a way of better assessing if a venue's community contributions are fair when compared with the profits they are making from the pokie gambling of locals. In NSW, Greens MLC Justin Field is preparing to introduce a private members bill to the upper house that will require publication of how much is gambled in individual clubs and pubs and the profits per venue. His push for greater transparency comes as the government is still refusing to release a report on gambling harm it commissioned from the University of Sydney's Gambling Treatment Centre in 2013. The report – for which the centre was paid $263,000 – was supposed to determine "the type of harm likely to be attributed to each gambling product and the effects on the gambler and friends and family".

It was handed to the government in December 2015 but remains under wraps. The excuse: it is still being considered by cabinet. This strongly suggests the government is nervous about its findings and the calls it may trigger for gambling reform in NSW as poker machine profits soar. Field's proposal is likely to be opposed by pubs and clubs on the basis that it makes individual venues robbery targets. But this is questionable logic; surely it's already obvious where the most cash is being taken based on how many pokies are in a venue. The idea should be seriously considered by Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her new Gaming Minister, Paul Toole.

​Embracing it will allow them to show they are serious about improving gambling policy and not unduly beholden to those who are reaping the profits. Sean Nicholls is state political editor.