The pokies are soaking up more of our dollars.

According to figures released by the Department of Internal Affairs this week, in Tauranga alone $8,026,361 was pumped into electronic gambling machines from April through to June of this year.

More than $8 million dollars were fed into electronic gambling machines in Tauranga from April through to June of this year. File Photo.

That's more than $68 for every man, woman and child in the city.

That figure would been much greater for actual gamblers because under 18's are legally precluded and not all adults play pokies.

That figure is also half a million dollars up on the same period last year.

Nationally, New Zealanders gambled away $216.1 million in the April-June quarter. That was up $9.1 million or 4.4 percent according to figures released today by the Department of Internal affairs.

It was also $16.6 million or 8.3 percent more than the $199.5 million spent in the first three months of this year. That quarter coming out of Christmas and holidays is traditionally lower.

The latest gaming machine figures must be considered against news there are fewer licence holders, gambling venues and gaming machines.

Over the year licence holders fell seven percent from 309 to 287, venues declined four percent from 1266 to 1220, and gaming machines dropped by two percent from 16,579 to 16,238.