COVID-19 has forced their usual haunt, the RUC Bowling Club in Turner, to close its doors for the foreseeable future.

Instead, a YouTube video of a poker machine reel flashes up on the television screen in their Braddon living room. The words "TAB" are scrawled on a sheet of A4 paper and stuck on the wall.

They are waiting for the RUC's "Chief Meat Officer" and "Minister for Meat Raffles" Michael Axelsen and marketing guru Todd Wright to start their weekly Facebook livestream of the "remote meat raffle".

It's one of the ways the inner north Canberra club is staying connected to its patrons in this era of social distancing.

RUC manager Jeremy Wilcox said within hours of the restrictions being announced, it became clear the club would not be able to open for a while. At the front of their minds were the patrons who rely on the club for social connection.

"We've adopted the philosophy we're a community club, even when we're compulsorily shut down," Mr Wilcox said.

"We thought if we can't be open, what does the club of the future look like? If it is online, what are some of the typical club things we can't do anymore, like meat raffles, DJs and trivia? That led us to thinking, why can't we do those things?"

They came up with concept of the Remote RUC - bringing the club into people's loungerooms through livestreamed trivia, DJs and of course, the meat raffle.

Punters buy a strip of tickets through an online booking platform then tune in on Facebook on Friday night to watch Mr Axelsen call the raffle via a random number generator.

Winners who live within eight kilometres of the club can have their trays delivered. In a sign of the times, a one-litre bottle of Underground Spirits hand sanitiser is given away with each tray.

It hasn't all gone smoothly. TryBooking went down half an hour out from the raffle in the second week. The random number generator carked it halfway through the raffle a fortnight ago.

But it has helped keep people coming together, while keeping apart.

"It's about keeping our members engaged. We've got a lot of elderly members and we wanted them to have something to look forward to each week," Mr Wilcox said.

"Some people are getting dressed up at home, cooking a schnitzel or sitting around with the family to watch."

And some, like Liam Kirwan and Bella Counihan, have taken it to a whole new level.

Mr Kirwan jokes that as parents to a seven-month-old, their lives in social isolation are not that different to what it was before.

But missing their weekly parents' group meeting at the RUC, they decided to do something special ahead of the weekly raffles.

"Ten minutes before the raffle we put Ruby to bed, and I said 'hey, let's get dressed up'," Mr Kirwan said.

"We put the YouTube video of the poker machine on the TV, a few signs on the wall. It is slightly surreal seeing the club so empty, and them trying to do this normal thing in a not so normal way. But it's nice to have a bit of abnormal normality in your week," Mr Kirwan said.

The livestream has also propelled Mr Axelsen's fanbase to a whole new level, Mr Kirwan said.

"He was quite a popular figure at the RUC already, but I imagine Axel might get a few rounds bought for him after this," Mr Kirwan said.