Australians gamble. They gamble at least as much as Americans do, and possibly more. Here we see two young men enjoying breakfast while playing keno.

They are not unusual. Whenever I bother to look, I see people gambling—at any hour of the day.

Most bars and pubs have gambling facilities. I found the sign below in the dining room of a golf course clubhouse.

Most gamblers play pokies—slot machines. After extensively observing people sitting at the machines, I have concluded that they’re called pokies because that’s how you use them. You sit at them and poke buttons over and over again for hours on end. Poke, poke, pokka, pokka, poke...

Most pubs offer at least a few pokies, but for the big time, punters visit casinos where machines can be found in ranks of hundreds. Conrad Jupiters in Broad Beach is a large facility that includes a conference center, hundreds of hotel rooms, a half dozen restaurants, high-end retail shops, and a casino.

We went to Conrad Jupiters to check out the gambling and to try one of the hotel restaurants. Winding our way through extensive lobbies, bars, and malls, we came to the casino. Two steely-eyed security guards flanked the entrance. They looked like Secret Service Agents, coiled black cords climbing up their necks to earpieces.

One guard stopped the couple in front of us, cautioning a visitor that he couldn’t take his camera inside. I surreptitiously dropped my small Olympus into my shoulder bag and passed through, giving him an innocent smile. No cameras here, Mate.

The interior looks like casinos you see anywhere in the world. Texas Hold ‘Em tables crowded with savvy outback types, businessmen and über-sophisticated females in cocktail dresses playing blackjack, Chinese people playing roulette. And hundreds of gray-faced pensioners grimly poking buttons on slot machines. Poke, pokka, poke...

Conrad Jupiters was jammed. Long lines of hungry people waited for admission to the hotel restaurants. Unwilling to wait, we looked for the café located inside the casino.

Casino operators know not to allow hunger to cause gamblers to step outside. They make sure drinks and foods and restrooms are just steps away from tables and machines. Moreover, they keep food and drink cheap to sweeten the deal. We got our least expenxive dinner since arriving in Australia—at the casino café. Great food, too.

A day later we were in Brisbane. One of the sights I didn’t want to miss was the old Treasury Building, a classical pile of sandstone. The solid architecture reeks probity and sobriety and the substance of the former British Empire.

Today it’s a casino. You know Australians take their gambling seriously when they allow a major historical building to be converted into a gambling hall.

Gambling may be a problem in this country. Several people mentioned to me they had gambling addictions. Some spoke about belonging to Gamblers Anonymous. The path to addiction seems a little too easy. Pokies are everywhere. You can play one for as little as one cent a throw. Ten dollars can last an evening. For some, mindlessly pushing buttons becomes an obsession. I saw it in the faces of the gamblers: none were enjoying themselves. They looked haunted.

Pokka, pokka, poke, poke...