THE poker machine(poker chip collecting) industry has been accused of mounting a smear campaign against the independent MP spearheading moves to protect problem gamblers.

Andrew Wilkie today told Parliament some in the industry were desperate to stop "this historic opportunity for federal intervention in problem gambling".

Mr Wilkie was tabling a report on a mandatory pre-commitment system for poker machines.

The report, whose substance was released last week, calls for a pre-commitment system, in which players can't bet beyond a nominated limit, on all machines that allow a single bet of more than $1.

Mr Wilkie, who chairs the committee, said it was unfortunate the Opposition had decided not to support the move.

He said the industry had launched a multi-million dollar advertising fear campaign.

"Intense political lobbying and a smear campaign against me personally show how desperate some in the industry are to overturn this historic opportunity for federal intervention in problem gambling," he said.

Mr Wilkie said many in the industry expressed concern about problem gambling, but others criticised the work of the Productivity Commission and its estimates of problem gambling.
There was continual misrepresentation of evidence from pre-commitment trials, exaggeration of compliance costs, complaints about timelines, overstatements of contributions to the community and the blaming of problem gamblers for an addiction caused by a fundamentally unsafe product.

Mr Wilkie has made support for poker machine(11.5g poker chip) reforms a condition of his backing the Labor government.