Crown Resorts is pushing for new measures limiting poker machines losses at its Melbourne casino to also apply in Victoria’s pubs and clubs, saying the overhaul must be industry-wide to reduce gambling harm and money laundering.

Crown chief executive Steve McCann said on Thursday it was “very unclear” how the new mandatory pre-commitments scheme would operate, but that it must go beyond just the Southbank casino, setting up a potential brawl between the Andrews government and the powerful pubs and clubs lobby.

“The objective of mandatory pre-commitment is to provide a more responsible gaming environment and also to reduce the risk of money laundering,” Mr McCann said on a media call after handing down the casino operator’s half-year results.

“If that is confined to one destination, clearly that will simply divert that activity elsewhere.”

Mr McCann’s comments came after The Age revealed that the Andrews government will act on a core recommendation from last year’s royal commission into Crown by imposing a mandatory pre-commitment scheme at the Southbank casino.

The Andrews government had previously only supported the pre-commitment scheme “in-principle” and subject to “analysis and consultation”, but has now confirmed it would be implemented through legislation this year.

After hearing horror stories of the harm inflicted on gamblers at Crown’s poker machines, royal commissioner Ray Finkelstein recommended last year that visitors to the casino should be forced to set daily, weekly or monthly time and loss limits when they use the casino’s poker machines.

The scheme should also ban people from gambling on poker machines for more than three hours without a break, more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period, or more than 36 hours in a week, Commissioner Finkelstein said.

Mr McCann said Crown had emphasised two things during consultation with the state government about the scheme: that the technology involved needed to worked effectively, and that it had to be in place in all venues.