This year's total is $2m more than the total at the same time last year, of $38million.
No quarter saw more than $10m spent on gaming machines - $9.4m was spent between October and December 2015, $9m between January and March 2017, $9.8 from April to June, and in the July to September quarter.
Te Rangihaeata Oranga Trust - Hawke's Bay Gambling Services interim manager Alaster Mains said not enough was being done to ensure gambling issues "drastically improve".
The trust, which has offices in Hastings, Napier, Waipukurau and Wairoa, offer solutions for people who struggle with gambling addictions.
More people were seeking help from the trust as awareness about problem gambling grew, he said.
The DIA figures show in 2016 and 2017 the lions share of proceeds came from machines in Hastings and Napier.
Last year the average spend in Hastings was about $3.8m. This has risen to about $4.3m this year. Likewise the average 2016 spend in Napier of about $4m has increased to about $4.6m.
Of the money spent in Hawke's Bay on pokie machines, generally a third went to the Government, a third to the venue operator and the remaining third makes its way back into the community.
Mr Mains said their issue was not where the money went, but where it came from.
"The issue is that the powers that be tend to focus on that aspect of it and say, 'this is a great way of putting funds back into the community'.
"Well actually ... nearly $40m has come out of this community, of which I think they were saying ... about 40 per cent of that goes back. It sounds more like a loss of 60 per cent."
At a local level, he said councils could help the reduce the number of machines through their gambling policies.
"There is a direct correlation here between the more machine venues, the higher the harm."
Sinking lid policies mean the number of machines gradually goes down, while a "cap" policy - which Hastings District, and Napier City have - sets the total amount of gaming machines allowed in their jurisdiction.
Currently Hastings is capped at 293, and Napier at 320. Only 3 machines are allowed in Taradale.
Mr Mains said although a cap policy was promoted as a positive, it did not encourage the number of machines to go down.
Nationwide, Department of Internal Affairs figures show the 3.4 per cent increase in GMP in the year to September, was similar to the previous 12 months where spending rose 3.1 per cent to $849 million.
The Department will assess the 2017 year-end results at the end of the fourth quarter (31 December 2017) to determine whether this latest increase now constitutes a "trend" in GMP.
The increases in GMP have occurred while venue and gaming machine numbers decreased.
Over the last 12 months the number of venues fell by 51 to 1163, there were also 504 fewer gaming machines at 15,717 and 21 fewer licence holders at 263.
