Pokies give pleasure to many and pain to some - and that pain can be very great indeed.
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For Raimo "Ray" Kasurinen, it pushed him to take his own life after losing hundreds of thousands at the Hellenic Club.
Research for the ACT government 10 years ago indicated 5.4 per cent of ACT adults - or more than 15,000 people, experienced some level of harm from their own gambling.
"However, gambling-related harm is not limited to the gambler," the report said.
"People surrounding individuals who gamble can also experience harm to their relationships, health and wellbeing, finances, work and study. A wide range of relationships can be impacted, including those with partners, parents, children, siblings, extended family, close friends and work colleagues.
"In the ACT 16 per cent (or 43,000) of Canberra's adults have had a family member with gambling issues."
But the other side of this pain from the pokies rooms is the pleasure in the nearby lounges which offer great amenities at prices affordable by ordinary people.
The clubs are part of the fabric of Canberra. They are true community institutions.
It's true people choose to play the poker machines, but the complication is playing - and so losing money - can be addictive.
Our brains get a rush of a pleasure-producing chemical (dopamine) when we win at the machines - and also when we think we might be about to win.
The triumphant crescendo of sounds and flashing lights heighten that sense of excitement - they feed the dopamine rush.
On top of that, machines are often in darkened rooms so the player sits in a kind of zone with the machine.
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Sociologist Natasha Dow Schull spent 15 years researching in Las Vegas. In her book Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas, she talks of the "the machine zone, as gamblers call the trancelike state they enter".
Australian expert Dr Charles Livingstone told The Canberra Times gamblers can seek temporary refuge from their troubles in the "zone", including refuge from debt troubles caused by the machines in the first place.
Because of the addictive qualities of poker machines, there are regulations (just as there are for cigarettes, alcohol, narcotics and other addictive recreations).
People sometimes need to be protected from themselves, is the rationale, particularly when addiction is involved.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
