Pokie reforms will educate: welfare group

Personal gaming limits on poker machines will educate punters and prevent huge losses among players from all walks of life, Queensland's peak welfare body says.

Clubs and hotels across Australia have united to fight the federal government's introduction of mandatory pre-commitment technology for pokies.

A rally against the pre-commitment scheme is being held at Tweed Heads in northern NSW on Tuesday and another was held in Sydney on Monday.

The technology allows punters to set a limit on the amount of money they can lose before they start playing the pokies.

Queensland Council of Social Services president Karyn Walsh said it will make gamblers more conscious of their losses.

"Pre-commitment is asking people to consider how much they want to spend," Ms Walsh told AAP.

"It enables people to think about the balance of winning and losing and what can they afford."

Ms Walsh said gambling problems were not exclusive to low socio-economic groups and one reason people gambled was to address financial problems which usually ended in a viscous no-win cycle.

"A lot of people think they can solve a problem by gambling and it's usually a financial issue," Ms Walsh said.

"People from a whole range of walks of life are presenting at social services because of losses at gambling."

Queensland Hotels Association chief Justin O'Connor said the policy was flawed and he was confident the legislation, once it has been drafted, would not be passed.

Problem gamblers should abstain from any punting, he said.

"It would badly damage any business that includes gaming," Mr O'Connor said.

"Secondly it won't help problem gamblers because there are no requirements for problem gamblers to curb their behaviour under this scheme."

Clubs Queensland chief Doug Flockhart said the scheme would adversely affect community sports teams and charities who derive funds from clubs.

Ms Walsh said the only hurdle was determining an acceptable ceiling on losses.

"People still have to make a decision on how much to put on their pre-commitment card," Ms Walsh said.

"To do nothing to mitigate against the amount of people's lives affected by gambling isn't acceptable."