News.com.au – Hotels and sporting clubs have blamed an “explosion” in online betting and the increasing appeal of home theatres for a stark downturn in spending on poker machines.

Latest Consumer and Business Services Department figures show South Australian punters lost $731 million on poker machines last financial year, down $60 million from 2006-07 highs.

It is the second-lowest result in the past decade and short-changes the State Government of $34 million of tax revenue it was expecting in last year’s Budget forecast.

Anti-pokies advocates have also warned the internet is emerging as the new front in the war on problem gambling as regulators struggle to keep up with a rapidly-changing market.

Australian Hotels Association SA general manager Ian Horne told The Sunday Mail revenue from gambling, as well as food and drink sales in pubs, had flatlined in the past five years.

He said weak consumer confidence was leading more people to stay at home, where they also had access to cheap food and drink and online gaming.

“There has been an extraordinary explosion of online gambling,” Mr Horne said. “Go back a decade and the only place that had a 42-inch flat screen TV was a pub, now they’re very common. “Being at home is also far more easy, you don’t have to drink and drive.”