The true extent of Sydney's poker machine addiction is revealing vulnerable suburbs are regularly gambling away large portions of their income.
A string of Sydney suburbs has been flagged as being home to some of the worst problem gamblers in the state.
According to a landmark state government audit families in Sydney's west and south are gambling away up to three-quarters of their disposable income.
Fairfield leads the charge with the biggest financial fallout from pokies, where residents gambled away 78 per cent of their income in 2006.
Not far behind though is Canterbury, Bankstown and Burwood who are injecting at least a third of their money into pokies.
Shadow Gaming Minister George Souris says these are the same neighbourhoods where hotels have been allowed to build massive gaming rooms.
“The government, particularly under Bob Carr, but now also under Morris Iemma has sat by and watched this happen. It’s not as if this is a sudden revelation.”
Its sparked renewed calls for incentives to be provided to decrease the number of machines.