A Melbourne council will no longer provide financial support to any sporting club or community group that operates poker machines.
Councillors at the City of Darebin, which takes in the suburbs of Preston, Northcote and Thornbury, endorsed a new policy which will also stop council from providing grounds or venues to such groups.
"We know gambling is a major driver of household debt and contributor to family violence," Mayor Susan Rennie said in a statement on Tuesday.
"We also know that for many people, sporting clubs, and community groups in Darebin it is difficult to break the link to electronic gaming machines, that's why we are bringing this policy in."
Part of the policy involves providing support to groups that wish to divest themselves of poker machines by helping them to develop a transition plan.
The council said a number of local organisations had already taken up the offer.
The move to phase out poker machines comes after the council - made up of four Greens, three independents and two Labor-backed representatives - banned the use, sale and distribution of plastics in February.
In 2017 it also controversially voted to dump Australia Day.
