"We've got to find some non-smoking gamblers or we are all rooted."

Says an unnamed chairman of a NSW rugby league club as smoking bans and a September 1 increase in poker machine tax make inroads on their pocket money.  ( read the full article in todays SMH)

Rather than actually being "rooted", what about just being sensible with the huge salaries to directors and players. It was the greed where we lost the plot with NSW licensed premises under the current Liquor/sport/gambling super pub/club option - if you could call it an option.

It was pokies in NSW Registered Clubs that were an important ingredient in the the kerfuffle we have today that we call NSW licensed premises. In 1996 the NSW Australian Hotels Association succesfully lobbied for changes to the Liquor Act to allow pokies in NSW Hotels. 

Unable to compete with the Clubs, who were under writing their food and beverage and entertainment with cash from the one-armed bandits, Hotels were going under. Bob Carr said yes, and a little bit of Las Vegas was introduced to every corner pub in NSW that shifted the cultural direction away from conversation, bands and comedy. Many drinkers and smokers had now found another habit that wasn't in their best interests. Plasma screens were later introduced to all other areas of these premises to keep the sensory overload up so the punters were then primed to gamble at any time, as well as create greenhouse gas on a huge scale and enhance the demise of the now clearly doomed human species thanks to their habits described above.

Every 5 years, the Gaming Machines Act comes up for review, which was undertaken earlier this year. A report on the outcome of the review will be tabled in Parliament prior to 19 December 2007.

For the first time in the last 5 years, when it comes to the one armed bandits, all bets are off.