Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns has thumbed down proposals for the company to introduce AU$1 bet limits on poker machines.

Cairns found himself on the hot seat during the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday as he fended off anti-gambling shareholders’ attacks against the Australian-listed firm’s poker machine operations.

The Guardian reported that Cairns raised his eyebrows over anti-gambling advocates’ claims that problem gambling is caused by the company’s imposition of higher bets on its pokie machines.

When asked whether Woolsworth would follow the footstep of its rival grocery giant and hotels operator Coles in placing AU$1 bet limits on poker machines, Cairns told shareholders that “there is no empirical evidence that will improve the incidences of problem gambling.”