POKER MACHINE ADDICTION IS A MENTAL ILLNESS - NOT JUST A BAD HABIT

Plenty of people across a broad section of the community pay a massive price as a consequence of poker machine addiction.

Poker machines are a curse, it's time that politicians on both sides of the fence stoppretending they aren't, and back any legislative measures which at least make it harder for pokie addicts to blow all their money time and time again.

Unless poker machines are banned altogether, and we all know that isn't going to happen, because the government makes too much revenue out of them, there is always going to be problem gamblers out there.

Nonetheless, greatly culling their numbers, and limiting how many of these insidious machines clubs and casinos can have, is at least going to help to save pokie addicts from themselves. 

Seriously, it's like that - problem gambling is a form of mental illness. Poker machines not only make a lot of mums, dads and kids go hungry, because mum or dad is putting all their precious money in them.

But they're also responsible for causing or exacerbating a lot of mental illness in our society. It's time that all politicians woke up to themselves and accept that they have a moral obligation to rein in this social curse.