Pokie in the eye

Confession: I have been known to slip a $10 note into a poker machine on the odd (bored) occasion. I used to be faithful to Queen of the Nile, but then Five Dragons actually paid out one evening so I switched. In any case, my current parlous financial situation means I don’t go anywhere near them.

Unfortunately, this has become virtually impossible in Sydney pubs – they’re everywhere. Combine this with the smoking ban and the fact that pokie players are often also nicotine addicts and you have the emergence of tiny outdoor areas catering to these poor outcasts.

The saddest of all has to be the Stonewall Hotel’s new pokie lounge – the Golden Mile Lounge (oh, please) – and its smoking area right on Oxford Street:



Only four people are allowed to use it at any one time. I imagine sitting here, one would feel like an exhibit at a future gay expo titled ‘Where It All Went Horribly Wrong’.