THE ACT government will provide clubs with $15,000 for every poker machine authorisation they surrender under a new voluntary initiative.

The government is investing $1.74 million into the initiative which will aim to reduce poker machine numbers in the territory by 116.

Where all the authorisation certificates for a venue are surrendered and the venue becomes “pokie-free”, the incentive payment is increased to $20,000 per surrendered authorisation.

The payments will be available through to December 31, 2022 unless the fund is exhausted earlier.

“Community clubs should be a safe place for families and vulnerable people to meet and connect, but the exposure and access to electronic gaming machines can cause harm in our community,” said attorney-general Shane Rattenbury.

“More than 15,000 Canberrans have experienced harm from their own gambling, and 43,000 Canberrans have had a family member with gambling issues.

“Our community clubs play an important role in the social life of many Canberrans, so we want to continue supporting our clubs while reducing the harm from pokies, and I believe these surrender incentive payments can assist to achieve that.”

The incentive comes following the 10th Parliamentary and Governing Agreement which committed reducing the number of gaming machine authorisations in the ACT down to 3500 by 2025.