He told the Times a proposal by the Federal Government to introduce a national mandatory pre-commitment system for gamblers could ruin clubs, cost jobs and hurt small business in the Milton-Ulladulla region.

"No-one I know thinks that this is the solution to problem gambling," he said.

"It will be very costly to set up and hard to police."

Mr O'Sullivan said many measures had been introduced in recent years to assist people with gambling problems, but he doesn't believe forcing people to register their own gambling limit before they play the pokies is practical.

"People can set their own limits at whatever they like.

"How does the government know if they can afford that amount or if they have a problem?

"Registering a pre-commitment will only stop people from having a casual or one-off bet on the pokies.

"It's not realistic."

Mr O'Sullivan said forcing people to register their details and cap their loss before they gamble would also present a host of privacy issues.

"Do people want the government to know how much they're spending?"

While he understands the need for problem gambling to be addressed, and supports many alternate programs, Mr O'Sullivan feels the policy being pushed by independent Federal MP Andrew Wilkie lacks detail.

"It's all up in the air at the moment.

"There's a lot of talk, but we don't really know much about the proposal or how much it will cost clubs.

"We can't get information about how it will operate or how it will be managed.

"It's all very vague, but setting up a national system where all venues are linked is going to be a huge cost to clubs and will definitely hurt the local economy.

"It will mean we have less money to inject back into the community."

Mr O'Sullivan also pointed out that there were no limits on on-line gambling which allowed people to bet using their credit card.

He said there are other areas and better ways to help problem gamblers once they admit they have a problem.

Clubs NSW claims the new pokie technology would cost clubs in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven about $70 million to set up and a spokesperson said it was a waste of money.

Advice is being sought by the Federal Government on how mandatory pre commitment would be rolled out, over what period of time, and at what cost.

It is estimated that 50 per cent of machines will need to be replaced and the other 50 per cent will only be compliant if their software is upgraded at a cost of $5,000 per machine.