About $160 million was lost to poker machines at the Hunter Region's pubs and clubs from January to March this year, new data shows.
The Liquor and Gaming NSW data revealed losses of $52 million and $44 million in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, respectively.
A further $20 million was lost in Port Stephens, $14 million in Cessnock and about $30 million in Maitland, Dungog, Singleton, Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter combined.
A Wesley Mission analysis projects that the state was "now on track to lose more than $10 billion in 2026".
The not-for-profit charity described this as "another terrible milestone" for the poker machine industry in NSW.
Wesley Mission chief executive Stu Cameron said escalating losses continued to climb, despite cost-of-living pressures.
"Families across NSW are tightening their belts, often doing without essentials," Mr Cameron said.
"At the same time, poker machine losses are rising more than two times faster than inflation.
"There seem to be only three certainties in NSW right now: death, taxes and spiralling poker machine losses."
Mr Cameron said the same story "repeats itself every quarter".
"More money lost, more families under pressure and more communities carrying the burden of gambling harm," he said.
"It's a grotesque Groundhog Day on steroids."
Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said the latest data was shocking.
"It shows that Chris Minns is far too close to the gambling industry to stand up to it and introduce genuine reform," Ms Faehrmann said.
"The Premier must urgently release the government's response to the recommendations from the Independent Panel on Gaming Reform.
"The government also needs to urgently commission a study into the social costs of gambling harm in NSW."
She said poker machines were "now taking more than $26.4 million every single day from the people of NSW".
"That's nearly $1.1 million an hour out of local communities and household budgets."
Wesley Mission, alongside more than 50 other partners, is urging the NSW government to enact "stronger harm-reduction and prevention measures".
The group is seeking a mandatory cashless gambling card and a statewide shutdown of poker machines from midnight to 10am.
"Nothing good happens on a poker machine at 3am," Mr Cameron said.
"The evidence is clear that harm escalates in the early hours, when people are tired, isolated and more likely to chase losses."
A spokesperson for the NSW Minister for Gaming and Racing, David Harris, said gambling harm "can have a devastating impact on the relatively small number of people it impacts, along with their loved ones".
The government was "focused on preventing and responding to gambling harm".
The spokesperson said 0.9 per cent of people in NSW were "classified as experiencing high-risk gambling".
"Among those who gamble, it's 1.7 per cent," the spokesperson said.
"We are committed to ensuring all people who engage in this lawful activity can do so safely, while supporting the hospitality industry."
The spokesperson said poker machine profits "fluctuate throughout the year, with a general trend of higher gambling spending during the warmer months".
"This is a complex area of reform and behavioural change takes time," he said.
