Gamblers in Tauranga spent $8,630,296.91 in the last quarter of 2016.
The city also gained another nine gaming machines and one new venue for pokies, according to the latest Department of Internal Affairs statistics.
Losses on pokie machines in Tauranga rose by $315,000 in the last quarter of 2016, increasing to $8,630,296.91 from October to December from just over $8.3 million in the September quarter.
Margaret Sloan from the Problem Gambling Foundation in Tauranga said this increase was noticeable - clients who used the service had been spending and losing more money.
"I've had a steady flow of client referrals . . . what I've noticed for most people is an increase in spending."
More people who were seeking help had already lost a significant amount of money, in some cases having become homeless and developed other addictions.
"By the time people get to us, they're at rock bottom," Ms Sloan said.
"We need more education around the impacts of pokie machine gambling . . . it needs to start at a really young age."
Tauranga punters spent more than those using gaming machines in any other part of the country apart from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Although Tauranga made up just 2.7 per cent of the country's population, 3.86 per cent of gaming machine revenue came from Tauranga.
Lisa Campbell, national operations manager for Salvation Army Oasis, said the organisation had not seen a spike in the number of people seeking help for gambling yet.
"An increase in help-seeking is likely to be a delayed reaction . . . it can be a year or a couple of years," she said.
"The more opportunities there are for people to gamble, the more they will gamble."
According to the Department of Internal Affairs, 1.3 per cent of total gaming machine revenue went towards help for problem gamblers.
Just over 40 per cent of this revenue was distributed in the form of community grants.
Tauranga Central had 23 venues with gaming machines at the end of last year, Mount Maunganui had 10 and Greerton/Papamoa five.
One more venue and another nine machines were added across Tauranga in the last quarter of 2016.
Maria Bellringer, associate director of the Gambling and Addictions Research Centre, said pokie machines were a big problem for gambling addicts.
"Of people who seek help, the majority use pokie machines."
Dr Bellringer said there were still too many gaming machines around the country, but a greater problem was that many were located in poorer areas.
"There are more in lower socio-economic areas where people are more likely to be desperate for money."
Approximately 7 per cent of adults gambled at a level likely to cause some harm, Dr Bellringer said.
"If the Government was to ban pokie machines, that would be the best thing," she added.
The senior research fellow said an alternative more likely to be put in place was for councils to not allow more gaming machines when existing venues closed down.
The Problem Gambling Foundation and the Salvation Army had advocated for this "sinking lid" policy, which some councils have implemented.
Tauranga City Council adopted a policy last year to cap the number of gaming machines per person and to treat gambling venue relocations as new applications.