Competition for Bendigo’s diners and drinkers has rarely been fiercer among publicans and restauranteurs.

In recent years a dramatic cultural shift among revellers towards a more cosmopolitan social experience has changed the landscape.

Operators have had to evolve or perish.

Some have chosen to go upmarket, filling their menus with organic food and stocking their bars with craft beers.

Others have made the decision to gamble on the addictive nature of poker machines to draw customers through their doors.

For venues and governments alike, pokies have been regarded as a licence to print money.

It is not hard to see why when you consider the most recent figures from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.

In 2014-15, residents in the Greater Bendigo region lost a staggering $47.6 million on the pokies, up 3 per cent on the previous year.

Rigged so the house always wins, it is little wonder that The Bendigo Club thought it had backed a winner when splashing $2 million on about 40 machines at a state government auction in 2010.

But the iconic club, which has provided locals with a place to socialise since the early 1900s, has learnt the hard way that pokies do not always pay out.

Unable to settle an $800,000 debt, the club had little choice but to call in the administrators this week to conduct a comprehensive audit of its finances.

PPB Advisory maintains it is confident the club can emerge as a viable entity, but only through a significant restructure, merger or sale.

The Bendigo Club holds a special place in the hearts of generations of locals who will be saddened at the dilemma it now finds itself.

Upon hearing the news many will be reminiscing about a venue where they sipped their first beer, stole their first kiss or met their future spouse.

Let us hope the administrators’ confidence that the club does have a future is not misplaced and it can add a new chapter to its storied history – one that isn’t reliant on poker machines.

- Ross Tyson, deputy editor