A WOMAN walks into the casino to pick up a free wok offered to her in a promotional giveaway. She leaves two days later having lost $30,000 in a 48-hour poker machine bender.

At one point, staff at The Star had to clear cash out of the machine she was playing because it could not accept any more $100 notes.

The 49-year-old woman, from Rosemeadow, in Sydney's south-west, was left ''devastated'' and with a ''gambling hangover'' when it dawned on her she had just thrown away a large part of her dead husband's financial legacy in her gaming binge.

The NSW government is now investigating whether inducements can be banned.

As well as taking home the MasterChef wok, the woman also came into the casino on another date to pick up a digital camera, valued at $229, and gambled again.