Eighteen municipal councils in Australia have prodded the government of Victoria to slash the maximum bets on the state’s 27,000 pokies from AUD5 ($3.70) to AUD1 ($.074).

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Victoria’s local councils threw its support to the Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR), a group that had been at the forefront of the fight for gambling reform, ahead of the state election.

These local councils reportedly poured hundreds of thousands of Australian dollars to the group’s war chest, believing that slashing the maximum pokie bets will “significantly reduce rising levels of gambling harm” in the state.

Calls for the reduction of maximum bets on pokies also came four days before the scheduled release of the state regulator’s report on gambling losses. Anti-gambling campaigners claimed that the sharpest state pokie losses happened right under Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ nose.