Tasmanians lost more than $208 million on poker machines in 2025-26, the most ever recorded in the state.
Figures published by Treasury show players lost $208.27 million over the last financial year, edging past the previous record of $208.15 million set in 2011-12.
Tasmanians have lost a combined $2.79 billion since the state began publishing monthly pokies data 15 years ago.
Losses declined in the years before COVID but have climbed steadily since.
The rise has come despite a slight fall in the number of machines, meaning more money is being lost on fewer pokies.
The losses equate to about $360 for every Tasmanian, below Queensland and New South Wales, where the figures exceed $700 and $1,000 per person respectively.
Independent MLC Meg Webb described the record as “horrifying” and blamed the state government for creating the conditions behind it.
She pointed to 2023 changes that allowed venues to keep a larger share of the revenue generated by their machines, which she said had created a more “competitive environment”.
“This is what happens when a government captured by vested interests ignores all expert evidence to inform public health and consumer protection decisions and instead allows a rapacious industry to write its own regulatory rules,” Webb said.
Alliance for Gambling Reform spokesman Mark Kempster said the figures should alarm every Tasmanian.
He said that in scrapping the card, both the government and the Labor opposition had bowed to the power of the pokies barons and the gambling industry.
Acting Premier Guy Barnett said the government remained focused on its “substantial” and ongoing harm-minimisation reforms.
The record comes as the government presses ahead with a replacement package after abandoning a mandatory cashless gaming card with pre-set loss limits, described by experts as the ‘gold standard’.
The new plan includes cashless ticketing, ATMs inside venues, longer closing hours and expanded self-exclusion programs.
But the independent Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission has warned the measures could increase harm.
In a letter released this week, the commission said there was no evidence the package would reduce harm and warned it could take Tasmania backwards.
Treasurer Eric Abetz has defended the reforms as proportionate and practical.
