Treasurer Andrew Barr announced on Friday that the country's smallest TAB would be sold after years of falling profits in a gambling market dominated by online agencies and corporate bookmakers.

Mr Barr warned the sale, to occur by the end of the financial year, would see some staff members lose their jobs, particularly in the agency's head office, which employs two-thirds of ACTTAB's 100-strong workforce.

The buyer would also have to contribute to funding for the territory's racing industry, which the government currently subsidises with about $8 million a year.

The sale of ACTTAB will leave Western Australia as the only Australian jurisdiction with a government-owned TAB.

The ACT government will seek agreement from the Legislative Assembly next week for the full sale of ACTTAB through a competitive bidding process.

The decision to sell the agency was widely expected after a review found there was a strong case for the betting agency to be privatized.

In the last financial year, the government made a profit of just over $1 million from ACTTAB and that figure has been falling year on year.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers study found ACTTAB was facing increased competition, limited options for growth and would need considerable government investment to remain viable.

The government said it would not spend the tens of millions it would take to reenergise the business and bring it into line with a gambling market that largely took place online.

"An organisation that is the smallest TAB in the country simply is not in a financial position to compete with businesses of an international scale," Mr Barr said.

"The government needs to be looking at its balance sheet, looking at the variety of assets that we own.

"We need to be cognisant of technological changes in this industry and recognise that if this business is to survive in the long term it needs an injection of new capital."

Mr Barr said the sale would mean job losses for some of the 100 full-time equivalent staff members, who are split between ACTTAB's head office and its retail operations.

While there was likely to still be a need for a retail presence under the new arrangements, the extent to which head office workers would be required was a matter for negotiation that would depend on the buyer and where they based their operations.

But he hoped as many staff as possible could retain their jobs under their existing conditions.

The government will also require the buyer to support the ACT's racing industry.

"Suffice to say though that the more requirements we put on the buyer in relation to all of those issues will lower the sale price that we will achieve," Mr Barr said.

The government will employ an advisor to guide the sale but Mr Barr would not discuss what the government expected to net from the sale.