Cr Andrew Whiley abstained from a vote signing off on council support for proposed strengthening of national regulations and possible modifications to machines, preferring to send his own submission to the Department of Internal Affairs.
Cr Whiley said the machines could be addictive and they were designed for that.
However, he doubted tweaks to them would make a difference for problem gamblers.
Some operators ran safe spaces and labelling every pokies venue as a den of gambling would be ridiculous, Cr Whiley said.
Growth in online gambling was a more serious issue the Government should be tackling, he said.
Communities also benefited from gambling proceeds.
Cr David Benson-Pope said harm was done through machines designed to cause addiction.
It was pleasing to see Internal Affairs looking to take a more active and robust approach to its monitoring and supervision role, he said.
Several councillors seemed perplexed by Cr Whiley’s stance and Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins called the industry pernicious.
The council supported harm minimisation.
Money was returned to "a community" — benefiting those who filled out funding applications — but generally not the people who had the money collected from them, Mr Hawkins said.
"We have a responsibility to our community to look after their wellbeing in the broadest sense."
Deputy mayor Christine Garey said the aim was to reduce harm caused by problem gambling.
Funds generated came from harm caused to people, she said.
She noted it was estimated every problem gambler affected seven other people.
"The link with domestic violence is massive," Cr Garey said.
Harm disproportionately affected Maori and Pasifika people, she said.
Cr Garey noted how worried bar managers were about the possibility of losing their liquor licence for failure to meet their obligations and she wondered if similar stringency might apply related to gambling.
Cr Steve Walker said gambling was recognised as a serious addiction and it had massive detrimental effects in New Zealand, including resulting in divorces and loss of savings.
