Machine ban win for losers

"I like the idea because it's original and it would definitely benefit the community," local Laura Mansfield, 19, said.

"But some of the older people would probably be upset."

Indeed, Ms Mansfield's elders at the Tudor Inn Hotel - only a decent drop punt from the Rabbitohs' licensed premises - were less convinced.

Forced to shift her casual pokie habit up the road when the Chalmers St building was closed for re-developments in March, Susan Morton, 47, said "old folk" felt less safe playing machines in pubs.

"They are chopping off an arm to save a leg," Ms Morton said.

"Old folk around here feel safer playing the pokies at a club where they can get a courtesy bus to and from home."

As he watched the mid-week die-hards try their luck, gaming room attendant Vic Narayan told how pokies dictated the lives of the community's most disadvantaged people. Mr Narayan said he now refused to work on Thursdays - otherwise known as "pension day" - because of the influx.

"Thursdays are always the busiest days in here - people can do what they like because they have money," the 28-year-old said.

Mr Narayan said problem gamblers had manifested themselves over the years with threats of physical abuse.

"Just two weeks ago, I had a bloke in here who lost $400 and threatened to rob the pub to get it back. The worst thing is they blame us workers when they lose."

The Salvation Army lavished praise on Crowe's idea, adding that it would break the State Government's "addiction to poker machines".

Just down the road from Redfern, it runs the William Booth centre - a specially designed live-in facility for recovering gamblers.

In his seventh month of rehab, Glyn Hicks, 30, said his 10-year addiction regularly played out at nearby Redfern pubs such as the Cauliflower Hotel on Regent St.

Costing $1500 a week, it reduced him from a carpenter to a vagabond who slept under a bridge at St Leonards. "If we want to fix this problem we've got to start somewhere," Mr Hicks said.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22442218-5006009,00.html