It is 10am at the Treasury casino in Brisbane and the roulette tables are filling up. Nearby, punters hunker down in front of a dazzling array of brightly coloured poker machines.
早上十点，布里斯班Treasury赌场的轮盘赌桌旁逐渐坐满了人。旁边不远的地方，一群赌客正专心致志地操作着一排颜色炫目的老虎机。
“My husband always told me not to play the pokies,” says Marian, an octogenarian who declines to give her surname or exact age. “He died a few years ago and now I come in here when I have nothing to do.”
年届八旬的玛丽安表示：“过去我丈夫总是告诉我不要去玩老虎机。他几年前去世了，现在每当无所事事的时候我就会来赌场玩。”玛丽安拒绝告诉我们她的姓氏，也不愿透露她的确切年龄。
Seven in 10 Australians enjoy a flutter at least once a year and are the biggest gamblers in the world, losing US$18.4bn in 2013 – US$1,037 per resident.
每十个澳大利亚人中有七个每年至少会去赌场玩一次。澳大利亚是全球最好赌的国家，2013年澳大利亚人输在赌桌上的资金总计184亿美元，意味着每个澳大利亚居民输掉了1037美元。
This fondness of betting shops, lotteries and casinos – there are already 13 in Australia – has spawned a huge industry which is now lobbying state governments to be allowed to expand to better tap into the fast-growing Asian gambling market and the Chinese tourists driving it.
对投注站、彩票以及赌场的喜爱——澳大利亚境内现已有13家赌场——已经催生了一个庞大的行业，该行业目前正在积极游说各州政府，希望政府允许自己扩大经营，以把握亚洲赌博市场快速增长的机遇，吸引到这轮增长背后的推动者——中国游客。