Canberra's club sector wants to ensure the ACT government's proposed poker machine reform has a minimal cost to clubs.
The territory's peak industry body for clubs has also questioned the emphasis on the poker machines, saying online gambling has become a more pressing issue.
The ACT government is pushing ahead to replace $10 bet limits with $5 bet limits, and introduce $100 load up limits, on poker machines.
Gaming Minister Shane Rattenbury released a discussion paper on Friday for consultation, which outlined the territory's intended approach to impose greater restrictions on poker machines in the territory.
As part of the proposed approach there would be a central monitoring system that would slow the rate gamblers could lose money on poker machines in the ACT.
The system, which is expected to be in operation by November 2024, would cost up to $18 million to install but the government is confident revenue from the machines can partly cover the cost.
ClubsACT chief executive Craig Shannon said he appreciated that Mr Rattenbury was willing to genuinely consult on the changes. He said the sector had concerns around the timeframe for the proposed reforms and he wanted to ensure there were no significant costs to clubs.
But Mr Shannon said he believed poker machines were over emphasised as a concern within the ACT and the government should also look at ways to tackle online gambling, which was causing greater harm.
"There's some real big issues there that governments need to address and poker machines are not necessarily one of the greatest harms," he said.
"One of the few places where a problem gambler gets an opportunity for an intervention and diversionary pathways is a club.
"Most gambling is increasingly going online into people's lives, mostly available at home and there's no capacity for oversight and offer people opportunities for gambling counselling.
"And it's easy to continually target poker machines as a problem, while ignoring the real growing problem."
Mr Shannon said the organisation was also concerned about the cost impact of the implementation within the proposed timeframe.
He said clubs had suffered significant financial losses throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns and he said any costs to clubs in rolling out this model could be potentially devastating to clubs, particularly smaller clubs.
"People need to keep sight of the fact we've had several years now of suppressed trading opportunities and that's eaten into reserves because our clubs are not commercial operations," Mr Shannon said.
Mr Rattenbury said the detail on how the central monitoring system would be funded was still to be worked out, but the government was striving for a minimal cost, or zero up-front cost, to the gaming machine operators.
He said he was serious about having a constructive dialogue with the clubs sector on how the technology and new limits would be rolled out.
ACT Council of Social Service chief executive Emma Campbell welcomed the government's proposal as she said the social and financial costs of gambling continued to severely impact the Canberra community.
She said this would also create a better environment for Canberra's community clubs.
"Community clubs are an important and well-loved part of Canberra. By reducing risks of gambling harm we can ensure that community clubs become safer, more inclusive and welcoming spaces for all," Dr Campbell said.
"Over 99 per cent of the ACT's gaming machines are in community clubs. We look forward to seeing community clubs engage in the poker machine surrender initiative to become pokie free venues."
