Also Australia. My experience is different. We absolutly have a bunch of pokies room, but these go hand in hand with pubs, bistros and other standard entertainm

Also Australia. My experience is different. We absolutly have a bunch of pokies room, but these go hand in hand with pubs, bistros and other standard entertainment options. The only thing pokies seem to have largely wiped out is the live music option which used to be fairly standard. As for socialising, it's the same. At least for me, very few people I know hit the pokies. Plently of bars, pubs, cafes etc. It seems more to be lonely people who aren't socialising that take to pokies from my limited view. Personally I think the need to wind them down. Do something like ban advertising and reduce licensed machines ~3% a year type thing and they can slowly disappear.