HUNDREDS of venue owners and patrons have been warned and three fined for breaking Victoria's tough ban on smoking in licensed venues. Local councils have been given a hit-list to target the one-in-four high-risk venues that the Government estimates may be "non-compliant" with smoking laws introduced in July last year. The State Government has also launched an urgent inquiry into compliance with smoking laws, with the inquiry expected to report back by September. Australian Hotels Association Victoria spokesman Paddy O'Sullivan said the feedback from pubs was overwhelmingly that the laws were being obeyed and hotels had prospered under the smoking ban. "The feedback has been quite positive across the board and, importantly, we have had terrific feedback from hotel staff," he said. Hotels had reported customers had largely self-enforced the smoking bans, he added. "If a customer either deliberately or inadvertently lights up in an area where they shouldn't be smoking, often it is other customers who politely point it out to them," he said. Mr O'Sullivan was surprised at the Government's high estimate of non-compliance and said there was no way one in four pubs were high-risk for not complying with the smoking ban. "In Victoria there are 18,000 liquor licences