State Mafia

Queensland's smoking bans are hitting pubs and clubs in the poker machine hip pocket with losses of $50 million despite numbers of machines being up.

The State Treasury is also a loser - fewer pokie takings mean revenue will be down there too.

But while Premier Peter Beattie and Deputy Anna Bligh are slagging off at nasty smokers for their addiction, how about Labor kicks its habit of being hooked on the pokies for State revenue?

'Progressives' ridiculed long-time conservative Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen for not allowing 'pokies' which were introduced almost the instant Labor came to power in the late '80s.

Now the State is addicted to the revenue from them and, like all addicts, Labor will likely now look elsewhere for their 'fix'.

One suggests that if they can't extort in the clubs and pubs, they'll probably turn to mugging with a mass rollout of revenue raising speed cameras.

-- Nick