Plans for the North Queensland Cowboys to build a leagues club south of Brisbane have been criticised by the local mayor, who labelled the proposed venue a “pokie palace”.

City of Logan Mayor Jon Raven said the 100-pokie club proposed for the suburb of Holmview would take millions of dollars from his community and hand it to the Townsville-based NRL club.

He added that in his personal view, the area could not handle that many pokie machines.

“[The pokies will pull] more than $13 million out of people’s pockets in Logan every single year,” Raven said.

“To offset that, they’re saying they’re only going to give us $100,000 back to the community in the first year, and $1.5 million over the four years after that.

“I don’t think that’s good enough. I don’t think that’s in the interest of the people of Logan, and I don’t think we should put up with it.”

In the Greater Brisbane councils of Brisbane, Logan, Moreton, Ipswich and Redland, 311 venues are listed as gaming machine sites, and more than 17,000 machines are approved to operate.

Almost 40 of these venues – including five in Logan – have 100 or more pokie machines approved. Most of the 10 venues that each have 300 machines approved are leagues clubs.

Raven said his council opposed the “extreme” number of machines planned for the Holmview location.

“All the other pubs that have pokies in that area have half the number of machines that the Cowboys are proposing,” he said.

The new machines would nearly double the number of machines per person within a five-kilometre radius, Raven said.

Cowboys Group chief executive Tim Follett said south-east Queensland had long been home to a significant and passionate Cowboys supporter base.

“For many years we’ve heard from members and fans who would love a place they can call their own,” Follett said.

“While this opportunity remains in its early stages, we believe there is potential to create a venue that brings Cowboys supporters together, whilst also delivering meaningful benefits for the local community.”

The venue would include a 400-seat restaurant, spaces for community groups, a cafe, children’s playground and a shop to buy Cowboys merchandise.

The club would respect “all required regulatory and stakeholder engagement processes” before further planning, Follett said.

“Should the project progress, our commitment would be to create a venue that not only serves our members and supporters, but also contributes to local employment, supports community initiatives and builds partnerships with grassroots sporting organisations and charities across the region,” he said.

Logan City Council found out about the Cowboys’ proposal after the Office of Liquor and Gaming requested their input, Raven said.

“Their own community impact statement is where we learnt that they wanted to take over $13 million from the pockets of the people in Logan, and send it back to Townsville,” he said.

“When you think about how far away Townsville is from Logan – Parramatta is closer to Logan than Townsville. So they are so far out of catchment.”

Raven said a now-closed loophole meant when the Cowboys put in a development application in 2022, they could apply for a gaming lounge without telling council how many machines were planned or what impact it would have on the community.

“We’d love to see them either reduce the number of licences for machines significantly, or increase the amount of return to the community,” Raven said.

“We know that pokie machines cause harm in the community that they’re in, and the community will accept that as long as there is a return at either sports clubs [or] community organisations, so that the people who aren’t using those machines get the benefit of the harm that’s being caused.”

Raven said he was seeking community feedback for a submission to the Office of Liquor and Gaming.

The federal government has recently been debating gambling reforms. A Senate inquiry last week heard claims that problem gamblers had been lured by VIP agents offering thousands of dollars in free bonus bets as well as hotel rooms, flights, drugs and escorts.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor are expected to agree to tighten gambling promotion conditions and simplify rules for streaming advertising.

A fresh sticking point has emerged over Labor’s move to ban offshore lotteries, which is dividing Coalition MPs.