WHEN Kevin Rudd announced his $10.4 billion package of handouts to stave off recession, some said it was a gamble. The Prime Minister could hardly have known how true that would be.

The millions of dollars handed to pensioners and lower-income families in the second week of December fuelled a betting and gaming binge across Victoria.

"We called it 'Kevin Rudd Thursday', " said the manager of one Melbourne Tabaret, revealing just how big a windfall gaming venues struck. Staff arrived at 8am on December 11 to find people queueing to play the pokies, cashed up with a minimum handout to single pensioners of $1400.

Although Tabcorp and Tattersalls, which between them control poker machines across the state, will not release figures on this month's trade until the end of January, The Sunday Age understands December turnover is far above projections.

A source at Tabcorp said: "As soon as Rudd's handouts started flowing into people's accounts the pokies business saw a surge. Nearly all the venues we're involved with saw an increase in trade and in many cases the spike was very dramatic.