The ACT could chart a path towards entirely abandoning poker machines and it was worth discussing how it would work with the gambling industry, a Labor backbencher has said.
Marisa Paterson said the government needed to consider how divestment of poker machines was working to ensure clubs divesting from gaming revenue were actually surrendering their machine licences.
"I absolutely think there could be a pathway. I think that's something that we need to discuss with the industry, how that would happen and what stages would be involved in that happening," Dr Paterson said.
"There's a lot of clubs that are changing their models and divesting but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're relinquishing machine licences. I do think we need to be looking at how that divestment works."
Dr Paterson, who was the director of the Centre for Gambling Research at the Australian National University before she was elected as a member for Murrumbidgee at the 2020 election, said she wanted to see the ACT take a stronger public health response to gambling harm.
"Because it's often not just one activity, it's not just poker machines. It's a whole raft of gambling activities," she said at a press conference.
Gaming Minister Shane Rattenbury said he was focused on reducing the harm of poker machines, rather than banning them outright.
"There are some people who can afford to play poker machines and don't have an addiction problem with poker machines, but there are certainly some people who are vulnerable to the way they are deliberately designed," Mr Rattenbury said.
"My focus is on measures that tackle those design problems, whether that's bet limits, load-up limits or cashless gaming.
"And there are a range of ways that we can do this where people who enjoy playing the poker machines can legitimately do so, but do it in a way that doesn't break the bank or drive some of the social problems."
Dr Paterson on Thursday introduced a bill to the Assembly that would ban poker machines being licensed for use in the Molonglo Valley and future suburbs of Canberra.
She said in a statement, Molonglo Valley residents had been clear in expressing support for community clubs in their area which did not rely on poker machine revenue.
"This discussion is about more than divestment - this is about a reimagining of a community clubs, and the place that they might have in newly established communities in the ACT," she said.
Mr Rattenbury said the ACT cabinet was yet to formally consider Dr Paterson's bill, but he was sympathetic to the intention of the bill.
"The government's got more reforms coming through the system. So this is clearly consistent with that approach," he said.
Dr Paterson pointed to Victorian research that found people living 250 metres from a gambling venue were 6 per cent more likely to gamble than the general population compared to people who lived more than 2 kilometres from poker machines.
There were 3584 gaming machines in operation in the ACT at April 1, down from 5022 in August 2015.
But Dr Paterson said a reduction in the number of poker machines in use did not mean there had been a reduction in gambling harm in the territory, particularly given the increased use of online gambling services.
"I think the idea that this is a dwindling activity is actually fairly inaccurate and not based on the evidence," she said.
