Independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie says he has received death threats as debate intensified about his proposal on imposing betting limits in slot machines.

Wilkie, who is a key member of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's fragile coalition government, accused the powerful clubs and pubs owners of the intimidations due to his plan to force "pokies" gamblers to sign registration cards which would limit the chances of losing.

"In the past two days, I have received a death threat, I have been threatened with the existence of compromising photos and am having my past as a cadet at Duntroon nearly 30 years ago trawled over," Wilkie related.

He added, "The smear campaign shows that this industry, which profits enormously from human misery, will stop at absolutely nothing to prevent these historic poker machine reforms."

Wilkie composed the “pokies reform” and made it a major condition of his support to Gillard. He has threatened to desert the prime minister if she does not act on it, zeroing her one-seat majority.

Gillard has promised to clear out with new limits on the subdivision by 2014. However the industry retaliates with a US$20.9 million advertising onslaught which will leave their freedom and privacy at stake.

Anthony Ball chief of Clubs Australia chief frantically said, “Wilkie is obviously pointing the finger at my organization and the Australian Hotels Association.”

Ball told ABC radio, "If he has been issued a death threat, he should go straight to the police and I'm happy to cooperate. That is the way to deal with it, not to basically throw a rock at us."

In a study by the Productivity Commission, 600,000 Australians are estimated to play pokies at least weekly. That is 4 per cent of the adult population and 95,000 of which is categorized as problem gamblers.

The commission added that Australians' gambling losses has been more than AU$19 billion in 2008-2009. Each player has an average of about Aus$1,500 out of pocket yearly.