Rotorua gaming machine spending may have dropped during the past year but local gamblers are still pouring more than $56,000 a day into pokies.
Local punters spent $1.3 million less on pokies in the year ending March this year, compared with the previous 12 months, a 6 per cent drop.
Figures from the Department of Internal Affairs show nearly $20.6 million was dropped into Rotorua gaming machines during the year - equating to nearly $56,400 daily.
Rotorua Citizens Club manager Dick Hyland said managing problem gambling was a top priority for his staff.
"The gaming machines are hidden away so they're not out in the open, like some clubs.
"Even the jackpot sign is not visible to the rest of the club."
Patrons in the club's gaming room, which houses 18 machines, were also monitored by staff, Mr Hyland said.
Meanwhile, the number of Rotorua machines also declined during the past year, down from 408 to 398.
Nationally, an overall decline in pokie machine expenditure, licence holders, gambling venues and gaming machines is being applauded by New Zealand's anti-gambling foundation.
Pokie spending dropped 4 per cent in the year to March, from $865.4 million to $828.7 million.
Licence holder numbers fell from 359 to 353, venue numbers dropped from 1403 to 1367, and the number of gaming machines declined from 18,001 to 17,542.
Rotorua district councillor and deputy chairwoman of the Problem Gambling Foundation Maureen Waaka said Rotorua needed to adopt a sinking-lid policy for gaming machines.
"The number of pokie machines out at the moment have not really been affected by way of a decline because of the lack of the sinking-lid policy [which] has not been adopted by all areas.
"Those areas, where we do have problems, are some of the [city's] worst areas," Mrs Waaka said.
Redundancies and high unemployment often drove people to seek relief in gambling, she said.
"There is a relief sought in making up the shortfall in the income in the house and that really only has a detrimental effect in the long-run."
Problem Gambling Foundation head Graeme Ramsey said the decline was largely because of people's awareness of the harm caused by pokies. However, pokie addiction among young New Zealanders was an increasing concern for the foundation, he said.