Still, the cost in dollars for individuals and families was largely conjecture until the release this week of the Productivity Commission's draft report on gambling. The commission tells us that poker machines have by far the biggest share of Australia's gambling dollar, about 65 per cent. Interestingly, they account for more than their share of problem gamblers, 75 to 80 per cent of the total.

The greatest surprise in this report is the amount a player can lose playing what's known as "a one-cent machine". A player of such a machine can lay bets of up to $12,000 an hour, and the expected loss of such an amount is $1200 an hour! Even at half that, the commission says, the loss of someone who plays for two hours five days a week is $310,000 a year. I have seen people who would spend at least that amount of time playing poker machines, and so will you if you make it your business to visit the gambling areas of a big club on successive days.

The commission makes a number of recommendations that have earnt the immediate ire of Clubs Australia, which is testimony to their value.

The main recommendations are that the bet limit for each button push be reduced to $1, cutting maximum expected losses from $1200 an hour to $120 an hour; that gaming rooms have a longer and earlier shutdown period in each 24 hours; that players be able to set loss limits for each session; and that new laws allow gamblers to sue for compensation from clubs or pubs that entice them unfairly or improperly to gamble. An interesting suggestion, rather than a recommendation, is that after a certain expenditure in any one session a machine resets its expected loss rate to zero (it's usually about 10 per cent).

You can read the full draft report here, although you will find the overview and recommendations chapters at the beginning more approachable than the full 630 pages.

What has been your experience with poker machines? And do you think the expected loss of $120 an hour is still too great?