The not-for-profit clubs’ sector commonly cites its community donations and grants when deflecting criticism about the huge profits and associated harms of poker machines.
But an SBS News investigation into some of the biggest clubs in one of Australia's most disadvantaged and ethnically diverse areas where gambling addiction is rampant found that those clubs were very generous to its most senior executive in terms of their salaries and spent a lot of money on overseas travel for their staff.
Of the 10 most profitable New South Wales clubs, based on poker-machine profits, all but one are in Sydney's west or south-west.
The clubs which, for some, lead to crippling addictions also sell themselves as important contributors to their communities.
A significant portion of contributions are made through the ClubGRANTS scheme, which allows NSW registered clubs to claim a 1.85 per cent tax rebate on their poker machine profits above $1 million if they spend the equivalent amount on community projects.
Now, for the first time, SBS has obtained exclusive figures showing where the money is also being spent, including the outlay on senior management.
In pre-tax poker-machine profits or player losses, Bankstown Sports Club made more than $84 million in the year to August, while spending $1.6 million on executive salaries in the last financial year.
Over the same period, the windfall from the machines for Cabra-Vale Diggers, in Sydney's west-suburban Fairfield, was $75 million, with its five executives taking home a total of at least $1.18 million.
Nearby, the Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club earned almost $82 million, with $2.3 million spent on the club bosses.
And Fairfield RSL generated $40 million from the poker machines, with its top earners paid a total of two-and-a-half million.
Fairfield is statistically one of the most disadvantaged areas in New South Wales.
Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows its unemployment rate almost double the national average.
And more than half the population was born overseas, with seven out of 10 people speaking a language other than English at home.
Community leaders say migrants and new arrivals are some of the most vulnerable people to gambling addiction.
In 2014, Fairfield RSL's top salary was almost $800,000 -- the club spent $793,000 in total donations back to the community.
Over a three-year period, the club spent more than $100,000 each year on overseas travel, with what it called "educational tours" to Bali, Singapore, Macau and Las Vegas.
Over the 2015/16 financial period, Dooleys spent $4.7 million on consultants for redevelopment projects. Its poker machine profit in the year to August 2016 was more than $83 million.
And over three years, the club sent staff on overseas trips totalling $300,000 -- including training at the Disney Institute in Florida.
In response to the revelations, all the clubs have highlighted their efforts to curb problem gambling and have defended their spending.
In a statement to SBS, Fairfield RSL chief executive Anthony Sobb likened managing a club to running a corporation.
"With this expectation, or responsibility ... I don't think it is inappropriate that they are paid accordingly. I also think it is important that 'benefits' to the community are simply not measured by donation."
Dooleys Catholic Club chief financial officer Mark McRae also defended the salary rates of the club executives, arguing salaries are "commensurate with market rates."
Mr Ngo was a Fairfield councillor during the heroin epidemic that almost destroyed suburban Cabramatta during the 1990s, but he laments what he describes as a glaring failure.
"That's probably my biggest regret, that we won the war on drugs but we couldn't wean away the dependence on pokies in our area."
