Two of them belong to the breakaway clubs group set up by the Tradies clubs and favoured by Chief Minister Andrew Barr - although the government announced its 50 per cent rebate before the breakaway group was formed.

The biggest winner is the Belconnen Soccer Club, which will save about $320,000 a year in poker machine taxes, based on its 2015-16 tax bill.

The Belconnen Soccer Club made $3.8 million from its 144 pokies in the 2015-16 year. So long as its revenue stays under $4 million, which is the threshold the government has set to qualify for the tax cut, the club will make a big saving in its tax bill, backdated to July 2017.

The Burns Club, which has 130 poker machines and made $2.9 million in the 2015-16 year, is set to save about $270,000 a year in tax, when its tax bill is halved.

The third big winner is the Magpies, which made $2.6 million from its 122 poker machines and will save about $204,000 a year in tax.

Between them, the three clubs share about $800,000 of about $900,000 in tax cuts.

The Belconnen Soccer Club and the Burns Club joined the Tradies and the Hellenic clubs to form Canberra Community Clubs, a new clubs industry group that has the ear of Mr Barr. The group split from Clubs ACT in March and relations are acrimonious. Mr Barr has dismissed Clubs ACT as a "wreckage" and a "joke", and he and his cabinet are dealing only with Canberra Community Clubs.

More recently, the Federal Golf Club defected to Canberra Community Clubs, believing that would give it a better hearing with government on its controversial plans to build 125 homes on part of the golf course on the side of Red Hill.

The Tradies and the Hellenic clubs both earn too much from pokies to qualify for the 50 per cent rebate. Other big club groups also miss out, including the Labor Party's own clubs, the Raiders, the Southern Cross Club, the Ainslie Football club, the Eastlake group and the Vikings. In all, there are about 27 clubs or club groups in Canberra.

A number of clubs are also too small to benefit, because with poker machine revenue below $300,000 they already pay no tax.

Other than the three big winners, only four other clubs qualify for the tax cut.

The Canberra Deakin Football Club, with 40 machines and earnings of $930,000, will save about $60,000 in tax. The Rugby Union Club, with 50 machines and revenue of $600,000, saves $25,000. The Irish club, with 36 machines earning $540,000 a year, saves $20,000. And the German club, with 20 machines and revenue of $370,000, saves $6000.

Tabling the bill for the tax cuts on Thursday, gaming minister Gordon Ramsay said the rebate would help local clubs find ways to move away from poker machines.

"It will help them remain viable and offer services to the community without acquiring more gaming machines, or relying on more money being spent on gaming machines," he said.

Burns Club president and head of Canberra Community Clubs Athol Chalmers said it wasn't surprising that so few clubs qualified for the 50 per cent tax rebate because there were not many small and medium clubs left.

"The issue really is for smaller and medium clubs like our own the ability to fund a new revenue stream is very difficult, whereas the bigger clubs are better placed to do that," he said.

"Before you even ... lay a brick it costs you hundreds of thousands of dollars to go through the development process. So we've got some options but it's difficult to pursue those options without some improvement to cash flow."

Clubs ACT chief executive Gwyn Rees said he welcomed any relief for clubs, but the tax rebate would "only be a game changer for a fortunate few".

Mra Ramsay did not confirm that only seven would get the rebate, saying 17 would be eligible based on last year's revenue, but the number this year would depend on this year's revenue. Club groupings and trends in gaming expenditure could change the numbers year to year.

Separately, all clubs that earn less than $4 million from poker machines, including small clubs, can apply for a $10,000 grant to use to develop "alternative income streams" and move away from pokies.

Two years ago, the government delivered a tax cut of $18,000 for smaller clubs. The ongoing tax cuts come despite a 2012 tax review by former Labor Treasurer Ted Quinlan, who found that ACT gambling taxes were well below taxes in other states and territories.