The government should move to limit pokies bets to $5 when gaming rooms are allowed to reopen, the ACT Greens say.
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Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury said the coronavirus shut down period had provided real relief for people with a gambling problem, and now was the time for real reform.
He said bets should be capped at $5 per spin and a $100 load limit introduced.
"The inability to access poker machines has given them a real break," he said.
Gaming rooms are among the last venues which will be allowed to open according to the ACT government's reopening plan.
However pokies have been allowed to operate in NSW since June 1.
Mr Barr has been unapologetic for the ongoing ban, saying there were "better forms of entertainment" than playing the pokies.
"If you want to go to Queanbeyan and lose money on a poker machine go for it," he said last month.
But industry group ClubsACT said just meant money was heading across the border to Queanbeyan, while thousands of Canberrans in the hospitality industry remained out of work.
Mr Rattenbury said he had been assured by gaming harm reduction advocates $5 bet limits could be implemented without technical challenges.
"While we want to see hospitality workers back at work, we need to make sure we aren't creating even more problems for our community," he said.
The Greens want the government to immediately make the changes, with venues given 18 months to implement the changes.
To offset costs, rebates on gambling tax would be negotiated, the faster a venue makes the transition to bet limits, the greater the level of rebate.
ClubsACT chief executive Gwyn Rees said The Greens' announcement was unhelpful, but not unexpected.
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"But I look forward to a policy that actually assists the thousands of club and supplier employees who continue to face extended financial hardship and uncertainty," he said.
"They seem to have missed how important that is at a time when people are doing it very tough."
Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay the issue was worthy of community discussion but not likely to be considered until the next parliamentary term.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a sizeable impact on our clubs operations and it is important that we give clubs a chance to recover and go back to being the great places of gathering an community support we know they can be," he said.