Auckland health provider Hapai Te Hauora Tapui is planning to question local body candidates about what they will do to reduce the harm of gambling.
Hapai Te Hauora Tapui is one of seven Maori organisations which have attended a three-day hui in Rotorua to discuss ways to minimise and prevent the effects of poker machines.
Trust spokesperson Anthony Hawke says $850 million is thrown into the pokies each year - and only about a third of that goes back in to the community.
The loss of that money has huge impacts on whanau and children, including poverty-related issues such as rheumatic fever, suicide and violence.
Mr Hawke says people should be posing questions to local body candidates to keep the problem at the forefront of their minds, and is hopeful other providers attending the conference will do the same.
