Whatâs a pokie in this context?
Iâd like to know that too. That bloke in the photo looks like someone who used to be on UK TV, I canât remember his name though.
I think itâs a video poker machine.
Has a couple of meanings but yep
âŚRicky Tomlinson ?!
Yes! Thank you 
Pokies are gaming machines (gambling)in pubs.
One armed bandits, or modern electronic versions, that now infest most pubs, sports clubs and bars in Australia particularly in poorer areas. Run by sports clubs to ostensibly raise funds they are in reality a tax on the poor and innumerate. My mother, a woman of life long temperate habits and not given to sudden bursts of irrational hope (except when she married my father) became addicted to them like a lot of older people do. I knew she was in trouble when she said âI donât spend more on the pokies than your father does on alcoholâ. 
Fortunately she pulled herself together and now she just re-ups the occasional scratchie.
They abbreviated it to pokie! I expect Airbnb will be abbreviated to Airby. The only thing they wonât abbreviate is the word âabbreviateâ. Because Abbo already means something.
âAboâ is not a word used these days. as considered racist Funnily enough we say âPakiâ for Pakistani (or Paky for Pakenham a large town near where I live) but it isnât considered a term of racial abuse like in the UK. Usually reserved for their cricket team as in âwe beat the Pakis again at the Gabbaâ.
Also if we did abbreviate âabbreviateâ it would probably be âbrevedâ. Every time you open your mouth to round a vowel or to articulate a superfluous syllable is an opportunity for a blowie. And that doesnât mean what it sounds like blowie = blow fly.
Iâll never forgive the Aussies for âUniâ!
When I lived in the UK I donât think it was seen as racial abuse (not where I lived, anyway). It was just a four letter abbreviation for Pakistani. In the same way, people call me a Brit - another four letter abbreviation denoting a nationality.
interpretation is all down to intent