The figures, released by the government department Liquor & Gaming NSW, show pokies in the Wollongong local government area collected $84.9 million from July to December last year - more than $62.5 million of it from licensed clubs.

Shellharbour punters contributed $21.5 million to the total, which would be significantly higher but for the fact poker machines in Shellharbour hotels were inexplicably missing from the government figures released on Wednesday afternoon.

Wollongong's 2472 club-based poker machines made a profit of $62.5 million for six months, making the city the seventh-biggest losers in the state - the same ranking as was achieved in 2016.

This meant a profit of $28,033 for each Wollongong club machine; a loss of $417 for the half-year for each man, woman and child in the city.

Shellharbour punters lost $22.5 million on the city's 761 machines in clubs.

In terms of total dollars kept, the Illawarra's most profitable was the Shellharbour Workers' Club, which has 264 machines and ranked as the 42^nd most profitable club in the state.

It was followed by Wests Illawarra (ranked 51st), Collegians Wollongong (56th), and Dapto Leagues Club (59th).

In terms of profit-per-machine. Dapto Leagues led the region, with Shellharbour Workers in second, followed by Collegians and Wests.

The most profitable hotels were Warrawong's Open Hearth (ranked 198 statewide), Berkeley Hotel (208) and Corrimal Hotel (265), which produced the best per-machine result of Wollongong pubs.

Out-gaining all regions were the machines in Canterbury-Bankstown and Fairfield, which returned profits of $288.5 million and $265 million respectively - the lion's share coming from the cities' licenced clubs.