Victorians have gambled away more than $1 billion this financial year

In just three months, Victorians lost $710 million to poker machines across the state. Search our interactive to see how much your region blew.

Victorian punters gambled away more than $710 million at the pokies in the three months from November 2021.

The latest data released by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation show net gambling expenditure – that is, player loss – at electronic gambling machines has reached more than $1 billion across the state since July 2021.

The monthly figures shot up to $234.7 million in November – an increase of nearly $185 million compared with the previous month – and they remained at comparable levels in December ($251 million) and January ($224.3 million).

The City of Brimbank, which takes in Keilor and Sunshine, had the highest monetary loss in that period: more than $13 million in November and January, and nearly $15 million in December.

Since the beginning of the financial year, Brimbank gamblers sunk more than $55 million into the red, mainly at the Kealba Hotel.

The City of Casey lost nearly $38 million from November to January, and Greater Dandenong, Hume, and Whittlesea averaged losses of more than $11 million each month in the same period.

Throughout the entire 2019 to 2020 financial year, total player loss in Victoria was $1.98 billion.

In 2020 to 2021, it was $1.56 billion; however, gambling venues were closed from March to November 2020 because of Covid-19.