Australia's most powerful gambling lobby donated $20,000 to a fundraising body supporting Abbott government frontbencher Kevin Andrews as he led formulation of the Coalition's industry-backed poker machines policy before the 2013 election.

Clubs NSW, which represents the cashed-up, pokie dominated clubs of NSW, made the donation to the Victorian-based Menzies 200 Club, which is dedicated to supporting Mr Andrews as the local federal member for Menzies in Melbourne's east, and the Liberal party.

While the lobby declared the donation to electoral authorities, it nominated the Victorian Liberal Party as the recipient, which blurred the link to Mr Andrews. The Menzies 200 Club did declare the donation.

But the Menzies 200 Club failed to declare another $10,000 donation from Clubs NSW, made in June last year, for eight months after the deadline set by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

That donation came three months after Mr Andrews' bill to repeal Labor's tough poker machine regulations passed the Parliament.

Fairfax Media does not suggest the donations directly influenced Mr Andrews' decision making.

But they are the latest in a long string of controversies that highlight problems with Australia's notoriously lax federal regulation of political donations. Such donations would be prohibited in the US, Canada, and - due to their size - in state elections in NSW.

Responding to written questions, a spokesman for Mr Andrews said that any suggestion Mr Andrews' decisions were influenced by the donations was "wrong and offensive".

Mr Andrews' spokesman stressed that the Coalition had released a discussion paper on gambling reform in November 2011. The policy taken to the election varied in a minor way only from the discussion paper, he said.

The spokesman said the gambling policy was determined together with the Coalition Policy Committee, shadow cabinet and opposition party room.

A Clubs NSW spokeswoman denied the contributions were intended to influence Coalition gambling policy, saying they were given for "no particular purpose".

Asked why the organisation donated to a Victorian Liberal body despite representing NSW registered clubs, she said Clubs NSW had made contributions previously to state and federal bodies on behalf of clubs nationally.

The spokeswoman said the Menzies 200 Club was not listed as the recipient in the public declaration because it was "a nominated sub-entity of the Liberal Party of Australia, Victorian Division, making this the correct entity to list on AEC forms".

The treasurer of the Menzies 200 Club, Michael Gartland, who submitted the declarations to the AEC, refused to discuss the donations.

AEC records show the first donation of $20,000 was made to the Menzies 200 Club in August 2013, when Mr Andrews was the Coalition's spokesman on poker machine policy as shadow minister for families, housing and human services.

The Gillard/Rudd Labor government had introduced reforms opposed by the clubs, including a trial of mandatory pre-commitment technology in the ACT requiring pokie players to nominate how much they are willing to lose before being allowed to gamble. So too had it introduced maximum $250 withdrawal limits from ATMs.

In the same month - August 2013 - the Coalition announced a gambling policy that included scrapping mandatory pre-commitment and ATM limits.

Just days before the first donation was made, Clubs Australia (of which Clubs NSW is a member) published the gambling policies of the major parties.

The Clubs Australia website ran a written paragraph from the ALP. By contrast, the Coalition policy was outlined in detail by Mr Andrews in a video introduced by Clubs Australia chief executive Anthony Ball, who is also the head of Clubs NSW.

The policy emphasised individual addiction and counselling rather the inherent danger of poker machines.

The footage of Mr Ball and Mr Andrews was shot in the same room, highlighting the closeness of the relationship at the time.

The Coalition's policies were potentially worth many millions of dollars in revenue to the clubs, which are heavily dependent on poker machine revenue. The Productivity Commission has estimated problem gamblers account for about 40 per cent of pokie spending.

A leading commentator on gambling policy, Monash University's Dr Charles Livingstone, said that "in all important respects", the gambling policies of the Coalition and Clubs Australia were "identical".

"It is as though the policy had been drafted by Clubs Australia and then delivered for Mr Andrews to adopt," Dr Livingstone said.

In June 2014, after the election, Clubs NSW made the second contribution of $10,000 to the Menzies 200 Club. At the time, Mr Andrews was minister with responsibility for government pokies policy.

The donation came three months after a bill repealing the former Labor government's poker machine reforms, introduced by Mr Andrews, passed the Parliament.

In its filing with the Australian Electoral Commission, the Menzies Club describes the $10,000 gift as "other", indicating that, rather than cash, it was in a form such as a club membership, a table at dinner, or the provision of facilities or space for a Liberal event.

Both Mr Andrews and Clubs NSW refused to explain what the second $10,000 was for.

For some years the telephone number for Mr Andrews electoral office was filed with the AEC as the contact number for the Menzies 200 Club.

Menzies 200 Club treasurer Mr Gartland referred inquiries to the Victorian Liberal Party.

Victorian Liberal party director Simon Frost refused to answer specific questions, including about whether the Clubs NSW $20,000 donation was spent on Mr Andrews' 2013 campaign, and the reason for Clubs NSW bankrolling a Victorian Liberal club.

Instead he responded in general about clubs "such as the Menzies 200 Club". "They exist to provide fundraising support for candidates and MPs to run local election campaigns," he said.

"They have their own constitutions, committees of management and bank accounts."

For 2013-14 Clubs NSW disclosed donations totalling $241,600 to the Liberal Party across the nation. In contrast, it contributed $19,100 to the ALP.

Fairfax Media could find no record of Clubs NSW ever donating to the Menzies 200 Club before August 2013.

Dr Livingstone said the Clubs NSW bankrolling of the club supporting Mr Andrews and the Liberal Party was an example of political fundraising contrary to the public interest.

"Small sectional interests hijack important debates about public wellbeing, and by the careful application of [for them] modest investments, get the policy outcomes that maintain their own vested interest," he said.

An earlier video related to this story incorrectly made a link between the Clubs NSW donation and Mr Andrews personally. This was quickly amended. Fairfax Media regrets the error.

Do you know more?

Sean Nicholls: srnicholls@fairfaxmedia.com.au 

Royce Millar: rmillar@fairfaxmedia.com.au