Poker machines would be banned from new areas of Canberra and the Molonglo Valley under a new set of laws expected to pass with the support of the ACT government.
Labor backbencher Marisa Paterson will introduce a bill on Wednesday that would ban the government from issuing licences to operate class C gaming machines in the Molonglo Valley and yet-to-be-developed areas of the capital.
Dr Paterson said 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," Dr Paterson said.
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, launched a campaign to keep poker machines out of the Molonglo Valley in May.
"The concept behind the campaign was simple: proximity to poker machines increases gambling harm; the Molonglo Valley has no poker machines - it should stay that way. This does not mean that clubs cannot establish in new parts of Canberra, rather that if they do, they cannot bring pokies with them," she 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.
Dr Paterson's private members bill would amend the Gaming Machine Act, making it illegal for licences to be issued to operate gaming machines in the Molonglo Valley or areas that are unleased land or rural lease land on the day the amendment commences.
There were 3584 gaming machines in operation in the ACT at April 1, down from 5022 in August 2015.
ACT Labor has backed Dr Paterson's separate campaign to ban gambling advertisements on television broadcast in the territory.
Gaming Minister Shane Rattenbury in November said he had directed the Justice and Community Safety Directorate to examine whether it would be possible to restrict gambling advertisements on Canberra television.
