Clubs furious about threats to their pokie revenue are bankrolling a $100,000 anti-Labor campaign orchestrated by their lobbyist's political party.
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Minor party Canberra Community Voters had received $7,500 from ClubsACT and spent $28,000 on advertising by Friday, much of it attacking Labor.
The party is fronted by Richard Farmer, a former tobacco lobbyist and businessman who has recently worked for the clubs in their campaign to stop the redeveloped Canberra Casino getting pokies, a move the clubs fear will chip away at their gambling revenue.
One of their candidates is the marketing manager for the Vikings Group, Beth Gooch.
Mr Farmer said on Tuesday his party would spend more than $100,000 on advertising, and the campaign would intensify in the remaining two weeks before polling day.
He said he expected a significant portion of that money would come from ClubsACT donations.
"I hope so, or the family bank balance will look a bit sick," he said.
Asked if his candidates would be compromised by a reliance on ClubsACT funding, Mr Farmer said they would be "far less compromised than any Labor candidate in the past 25 years".
Mr Farmer said, if elected, his party would support a ban on donations from gambling licensees, their peak bodies and property developers.
ClubsACT chief executive Gwyn Rees confirmed the level of funding, saying his organisation would hand over more than $100,000 "if that's what it takes to get a transparent and open government".
The party had also received a loan of $23,593 from Mr Farmer.
None of the donations is listed on the public register maintained by Elections ACT.
Parties and independents are required to disclose donations to Elections ACT within seven days during the campaign period.
The donations are, however, listed on Canberra Community Voters' website, and Mr Farmer said the seven-day time limit had not yet expired.
ACT Electoral Commissioner Phil Green said on Tuesday he would follow up on the reporting of the donations.
The party's election advertisements had been running on commercial television in Canberra on a higher rotation than normal during the AFL grand final.
The Canberra Liberals also ran a series of advertisements on grand final day.
They ran about 12 advertisements throughout the day, which would have cost between $150 to $600, depending on the timing.
The Liberals also ran advertisements during the NRL grand final, at a much more expensive rate.
Labor has questioned the level of the advertising spending by the Canberra Liberals, which is restricted to a cap of $40,000 per candidate, or a total of $1 million.
The final amount parties spend on advertising is not reported until well after the election, but they are fined double the amount they overspend if they exceed the caps.
Liberal campaign director Daniel Clode said the party was not going to exceed the advertising cap.
He questioned why Labor did not air ads in the AFL grand final slot, saying it showed there were problems with their campaign.
"It was the moment we realised they are not holding back for some sort of onslaught at the last moment … that they actually have a real problem with their campaign," Mr Clode said.
Like Canberra also ran advertisements during the AFL and the NRL grand finals, and said they had got "great feedback" on the positive nature of their messaging.
Like Canberra co-founder and candidate Tim Bohm was similarly surprised at the lack of Labor advertisements during the grand finals.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated Canberra Community Voters had received $75,000 from Clubs ACT by September 30. This is incorrect. They had received $7,500. This was a sub-editor's error.
