Dubbo RSL Club secretary-manager Geoffrey Holland said it was too early to say how big an impact the tobacco reforms would have on the club because the details were not yet known.

He looked to the efforts of ClubsNSW to urge the government to take a “commonsense approach” to the ban planned from 2015.

Mr Holland wanted definitions of ‘food’ and ‘compliant areas’ and other key items within the legislation.

Some areas of the club would be impacted by the ban if it came in place as expected, he said.

This would include the club restaurant’s alfresco area, but other situations were still unclear.

“For example here at the back where the TAB is, can I take a hot dog there to eat . . . will it be that the club can not serve it (in a smoking area) but you can take it there to eat,” Mr Holland said.

The secretary-manager looked forward to ClubsNSW producing a good outcome through its communications with the government.

He wanted to see a “satisfactory workable model” and said he thought there was a good chance of that.

“A satisfactory, workable model in my opinion is one where people have choice,” he said.

At this stage he did not see the state legislation as the looming threat to clubs’ viability that the federal poker machine reform

was.

Pre-commitment technology requires gamblers to set limits on the amount of money they are willing to lose on high-betting machines before they start playing.

“In what I trust to be a conciliatory approach, it won’t have the significant impact on business as mandatory pre-commitment,” he said.

Health minister Jillian Skinner announced on Tuesday the suite of bans on smoking, which would from 2015 include outdoor dining areas.

She included the three-year delay to honour the government’s pre-election memorandum of understanding with ClubsNSW.

The opposition, the NSW Greens and some health groups criticised the delay while ClubsNSW said its members were “broadly supportive of the new smoking laws”.

“ClubsNSW will be urging the government to take a commonsense approach to the details of the law so that in dedicated smoking areas club members can still chew gum or eat potato chips without the threat of a fine,” a statement from the organisation said.