MISS Tran finds it painful to talk about her gambling addiction and asks that we not run a photograph that identifies her.

"The situation I am in is shameful and I do not want to have my face in the paper," she says.

As part of that shame, she also asks that we protect her identity by calling her simply Miss Tran - one of the most common Vietnamese surnames.

A single mother after her husband died, and on unemployment benefits, Miss Tran has got herself $5000 into debt through gambling, which she is trying to pay off at $20 a fortnight when she receives her welfare money.

"I have borrowed money to keep on playing - that is when I can't sleep," she says.

Miss Tran says she goes to clubs because "I don't have a husband and I feel lonely".

Another addict also asks to be called "Tran" for anonymity before he talks about his battle with poker machines.

Mr Tran knows only too well the power of his addiction. When he was gambling, he would get his fortnightly unemployment money, take his wife and two children to the shops and buy what they needed for the next two weeks. Otherwise, they would have had no money for food or anything else because he would put it all through the pokies before they saw it.

Mr Tran hasn't gambled since 2004 and is in counselling, but he still feels the pull. "I think about it but I'm glad it's been a long time," he says.

These two recovering addicts are real people behind the statistics blighting Fairfield in Sydney's west. This local government area lost $330 million on poker machines in 2005-06 alone, which is put at 78 per cent of household disposable income (after housing, food and essentials).

One of the largest clubs in the area, the Cabra-Vale Diggers Club, which specifically targets Vietnam-born clientele, is now seeking more machines.

The club's website has a "Vietnamese entertainment" section and a walk through the club revealed an overwhelming majority of Asian clientele.

The club is seeking another 34 machines for "alfresco" gaming. It is planning a $12 million development that will include an outdoor area. Although covered, it will allow gamblers, who currently cannot smoke while playing machines, to smoke and gamble at the same time.

This would mean the club would have as many as 450 machines. In 2006-07, its existing machines collected $36.5 million for the club.

Thang Ngo, who arrived in Australia from Vietnam as a nine-year-old and has been on Fairfield Council since 1999, is leading a campaign against poker machines. He can see the destruction the machines wreak in his community. What has fired him into a renewed attack is that clubs in the area are trying to procure more.

"We earn the least but spend the most on pokies," he says of his community.

Cabra-Vale Diggers chief executive Bill O'Brien disputes that extra machines will mean more problem gambling.

"Despite the hype and sensationalism regarding poker machines, the rate of problem gambling in NSW is now just 0.8 per cent of the adult population," Mr O'Brien said. "This compares to 2.4 per cent in 1999."

Figures from the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing show Sydney's west lost almost $1.5 billion through poker machines in 2005-06.

Mr Ngo finds it difficult to campaign given the state Government's reliance on taxes from gambling. In 2006-07, the Government's total revenue from poker machines was $1.107 billion, almost 90 per cent of its total revenue from gaming and racing.

Mr Ngo is planning a gambling summit for May 16 but his own Labor-controlled council would not give him a venue. He has been forced to go to a neighbouring area.

Despite the social problems, the two state Labor members whose electorates cover Fairfield - Ports Minister Joe Tripodi and Health Minister Reba Meagher - will not be attending.

Sydney is filled with stories of people losing a great deal as they sit in front of what were once dubbed "the one-armed bandits".

One man recently rang a radio station to tell about his father, aged in his 80s. Just over two years ago his father, who has mild dementia, sold the family home and moved to a unit. This freed up $400,000. But the father walked to a nearby club each day and put $500 each time into the pokies. He has burnt through most of that money.

"The worst part is it just milks the community dry," Mr Ngo said. "But at the end of the day society still blames the individual. We don't say to people who are alcoholics, 'It's your fault'."