THE venue that rakes in the highest pokies earnings in the state wants the state government to put more pokies tax revenue back into Whittlesea.

The Epping Plaza Hotel put forward the motion to other gaming venues, Whittlesea Council and community organisations at the Responsible Gaming Forum this month.

The state government taxes 8.3 per cent of the money spent on pokies and puts it towards the Community Support Fund, but will not not reveal where it is spent.

But gambling experts warn the bigger problem is how much people spend on pokies, not where the tax revenues are spent.

In the last financial year gamblers spent

$21 million on pokies at the HLM Group-managed Epping Plaza Hotel.

HLM Group director Alex Robinson said the Epping Plaza Hotel had become an unofficial tax collector for the state government.

Mr Robinson said the government should redirect the funds back into the areas they come from.

"You'd be very unhappy if you thought the money coming out of Whittlesea was to be spent in Toorak or Portsea," he said.

But Deakin University gambling expert Linda Hancock said the call on the state government was a diversionary tactic. Ms Hancock said if venues adopted harm minimalisation policies there would be an ethical argument for venues to call on the state government to redirect the tax back into the community.

Councillor Sam Alessi said in an ideal world no money would be lost on pokies, but: "If we have to pay the tax we would like to see a greater proportion of funds to go back to where they've been collected."