The laws will “ruin” the region’s biggest club and lead to job losses, according to the President of the Cooma Ex- Services Club.

Mr Doug O’Donnell said the gambling reforms would put the club out of business.

“The clubs would have to bear the cost. There are very few problem gamblers in the Cooma club and the vast majority are responsible gamblers, why should they suffer?” he said.

The proposed laws would be very difficult to carry out and police.

“All the machines in Australia would have to be linked [networked] for the plan to work. The cost would be enormous. There would definitely be job losses from the club if the law came in,” Mr O’Donnell said.

Plans being pushed by the federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie will make gamblers nominate a dollar figure of how much they are prepared to lose before they start gambling - a scheme known as “mandatory pre-commitment”.

Mr Wilkie wants the law in place and designed to attack problem gambling by 2014 and he is being backed by the federal government, which needs his continued support to remain in power.

Clubs Australia, the peak group representing pubs and hotels across the country, says the changes will cost jobs. It has launched a $20 million advertising blitz opposing the reforms.

The industry wants a voluntary scheme and has rejected a Government request to hold off on the advertising war. Clubs Australia chief Anthony Ball says the plan is un-Australian and would amount to needing a licence to punt.

The Australian Hotels Association and Clubs Australia have warned the sector could take a $3 billion hit if the reform is enacted, forcing many clubs and pubs to close. The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, accused the industry of peddling in human misery.

She believed most Australians were in favour of sensible reforms that would ease the suffering of families hit by problem gambling.