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So a galloper called Alcopop stands a good chance of running away with the Melbourne Cup. Talk about a journalistic gift-horse: the love of gambling and the love of booze all in one, and the opportunity, on this highest of high holy days, for a blog that sums up the nation.

Alas, with Australia slipping down the global drink league table, the boozy stereotype doesn't really fit anymore. So how about the long-held view that Australia is a nation of punters?

On that front, it's surely guilty as charged if the latest figures from the Productivity Commission (who came up with that name? Wollemi, please help) are to be believed. Last year, they showed that three-quarters of Australians had some kind of flutter, whether it was having a punt on the horses, buying a state lottery ticket or dropping a few dollars in a "pokie" machine (Australian slang for a one-arm bandit). Admittedly, these numbers are swelled by once-a-year gamblers like myself, whose annual trek to the bookies comes on Melbourne Cup Day. But they're high nonetheless.

Between 2006-2007, Australians lost $18 billion in gambling - a staggeringly large figure (by way of comparison, the Australian government's recession-busting stimulus package was $42 billion). And according to the Productivity Commission, Australia has 500,000 problem gamblers.

The pokies are one of Australia's great addictions and afflictions. Of the $18 billion lost gambling, $12 billion of that was pumped into the pokies. Of those who play them, 15% are thought to be problem gamblers, and they account for 40% of the losses. By law, the clubs and pubs have to promote responsible gambling, with "health warnings" on the pokies. But some of the mega-clubs are open from ten in the morning until four in the morning, which allows for virtually round-the-clock gambling.

Politicians such as the long-time anti-pokies campaigner, South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, are calling for reforms. He wants to set the maximum bet on the pokies at $1, for instance.

But the problem is that the governments here are as addicted to the pokies as the punters. During the 2006-2007 financial year, Victoria received 13.1% of its revenues from gambling. New South Wales, which is the home of half of the nation's pokies (about 100,000 of them), received 9.4% of its revenues. In Western Australia, the figure is lower because pokies are banned expect in casinos.

So what, if anything, should be done? Russell Crowe failed in his attempt to ban the pokies from his rugby league club, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and the anti-pokie reformers are up against some very powerful vested interests and a very popular pastime.

PS Anyone got a good tip for the Melbourne Cup? Kevin Rudd won with Efficient in 2007, which seemed appropriate...

PPS To follow up on Moresby-Parks' invitation to eat fish and chips on the Sunshine Coast, I would, of course, be delighted. And the same goes for any food-related invites...

UPDATE:

So much for my sentimental bets: the prospect of a 13th Melbourne Cup win for Bart Cummings, the legendary 81-year-old trainer who won his 12th cup last year 43 years after winning his first. Viewed and Roman Emperor were nowhere to be seen, and it was Shocking that galloped to victory (though I did recoup some of my losses on Mourilyan, which came in third). Hope you had more success...

And on the day that a horserace immobilised the nation, the Reserve Bank of Australia tried to arrest inflation. Another rate hike, this time by 25 basis points. It's the first time Australia has seen the cost of borrowing rise in consecutive months since March 2008. Some had predicted a steeper rise, but the bank clearly wants to contain inflation without choking the recovery. Some kind of rate hike was the surest bet on Cup Day. It may well hurt people in the mortgage belt, but you could hardly call it shocking...

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