A poker machine. Credit:John Woudstra Across NSW the total amount gambled on the pokies each year has increased by more than $7 billion since 2011, based on projections from the quarterly figures. But more than one-third of this comes from just five disadvantaged parts of Sydney. "This is truly alarming, since these areas have only 10 per cent of the NSW population," said Francis Markham✓ a gambling researcher at the Australian National University. "We now know that the concentration of gambling losses among the poorest is intensifying." The figures suggest annual profits – which are distinct from the amount wagered – have shot up by as much as $415 million over the past four years: $160 million of which comes from these five areas alone. Fairfield is Sydney's highest-losing area. Its gamblers are staking up to $1.2 billion a year more through poker machines than they were four years ago.

It is also ranked as Sydney's most disadvantaged place by the ABS, a measure that takes into account residents' average incomes, education, family stability and english skills. The gaming industry makes more than $300 million in the area alone, a figure that has grown by up to $50 million, based on annual projections of quarterly data. Rounding out the top-five losing areas are Canterbury and Bankstown, Sydney's second and fourth most disadvantaged areas; Holroyd, its seventh; and Auburn, its fourth. (Due to the limits of government data, Auburn's figures also include losses incurred in Strathfield, an area with less than half its population but that ranks in the middle for Sydney suburbs on socioeconomic measures).

A former top NSW gaming executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that growing patronage in these suburbs came after the industry increased the rate of payouts from poker machines. That had the effect of increasing time spent on poker machines, a tactic that paid off the most in the south-west, the source said. "In the 1980s it was sitting at 87 cents [per dollar gambled]. "[Now it's at] 92 per cent…some machines are sitting on 95. Players get more entertainment, they stay on the machine longer and they get a good experience. "The lower socioeconomic people need an escape. They get a good experience from gaming…they tend to spend more time.

"You've got big clubs where people go to meet. They see all this beautiful furniture they haven't got in their homes. It's an escape. "People that are lonely talk to the machines and they talk to [another gambler] who gets a pay[out] and that's the psychology. There's no denying that. "In the eastern suburbs you'll get larger individual bets but they'll lose less overall [because] they don't have the time." The source also attributed the increase in the south-west to large Asian populations and population growth.

Fairfield's population has grown 1 to 1.5 per cent each year, according to the ABS. Gaming profits across NSW increased about 12.5 per cent over the four-year period. In the same time, the amount of taxes claimed by the state government grew only 8.7 per cent. Laws introduced in 2010 gave large discounts to pubs and clubs' poker machine profits. A 2013 report by the Auditor-General found that a scheme granting tax breaks to clubs who spend money on community facilities was poorly administered. Clubs have also been granted the right to move machines between venues more freely.

On net, about 150 additional new machines came to the five highest-losing areas in NSW. About 400 left areas where pokie profits fell most sharply: central Sydney, lower-income Botany Bay and the blue-ribbon Waverley, Woollahra and Pittwater. The amounts wagered on the pokies by gamblers in these areas fell by nearly a combined $20 million. "It's no secret that clubs are incredibly popular in south-west and western Sydney, or that many clubs in this region offer fantastic dining and entertainment options," a spokeswoman for Clubs NSW said. "There is no evidence that the popularity of these clubs or the number of gaming machines leads to increased rates of problem gambling. " Only 0.3 per cent of people in south-western Sydney, according to a government survey, have a gambling problem, the lowest of any region in the state, the spokeswoman said.

Annual estimates of gambling revenue derived from quarterly government figures may not account for seasonal variations in the way people gamble, the spokeswoman said.