Dear Lexi,

I'm afraid the logic is fairly unassailable.

If those restaurants and entertainment venues are able to exist because they give great value for money then they would still survive even if the poker machines were to be pulled out.

If on the other hand their survival is dependent on the funds from problem gamblers, which they patently are, then even if you and I don't use the machines when we attend these venues we are complicit in exploiting the tainted gains from money laundering, theft, desperate households, and addicted and afflicted people.

Exactly as David did when he went for the cheap meals. ;)

People are going to gamble no matter what bans you put in place.The internet is full of gambling sites.Get Govt out of our lives then perhaps personal responsibility will make us more accountable for our own actions.Ron Paul is 100% correct on this issue.

I would suggest not banning the casinos, but ripping out the pokies. Casinos were once classy establishments. In many places, they still are. I've enjoyed a bit of time in casinos in Cannes and other places, and I don't gamble.

The thing that sucks the blood out of gamblers - problem gamblers, that is - is the poker machine. Especially now that they come with flashing lights, musical interludes and countless free games and special features. They're also the things that suck the class out of casinos - and the problem gamblers' biggest problem.

There's something stylish and elegant about a roulette wheel and many of the other genuine casino games. Interestingly, they offer alternative 'grown-up' entertainment for kids who'd usually be at nightclubs destroying their livers. Strangely, the level of drunkenness at the casinos I've attended (here and abroad) tends to be much lower than that at the clubs nearby. With the countless security guards and hidden cameras, they tend to be safer as well. Bringing the class back to the casinos would, in my opinion, make them better entertainment, better tourist traps and less venomous to the community.

I'm dead against pokies, I don't gamble, but I am not entirely opposed to casinos.

Sure, ban Casinos and you'll just drive them back underground where they used to flourish unsupervised and fund all manner of crime.

I recall visiting Melbourne many (pre-casino)years ago, riding in a taxi down Lygon Street and seeing restaurants everywhere. I asked the driver how so many restaurants could make a living and just said many were just fronts for illegal gambling dens.

The problem isn't just casinos - it's the "get something for nothing" mentality that seems to drive our society and extends to every form of gambling.

Agree with wobbles. Ban casinos and the consequences and fallout for problem gamblers will increase 10 fold.

A push for a church state, unworkable.