The Mount Alexander Shire and community group Enough Pokies in Castlemaine (EPIC) will continue their bid to block the Maryborough Highland's Society’s proposal for a gaming venue, complete with poker machines, at a disused railway shed.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, headed by lawyer Elizabeth O'Shea, is acting pro-bono for EPIC in the case against more pokies.

 “The Castlemaine community is fiercely opposed to having more pokies and with very good reason," Ms O'Shea said.

“The appeal in VCAT will be a litmus test of how seriously we treat community opposition to gambling. No community should have pokies pushed onto it and when they resist, we have a duty to listen.”

Shire councillors voted at the last council meeting to go ahead with its VCAT appeal despite claims the legal costs were too high.

At a packed meeting at Baringhup town hall, a call to abandon the VCAT appeal was defeated five votes to two.

The motion was raised by newly elected councillor Tony Bell, who said the shire needed the new venue and that ratepayers should be given a choice about whether or not they gambled on pokies.

The shire has spent close to $200,000 this year so far in legal costs as part of its VCAT appeal.

Maryborough Highland Society general manager Malcolm Blandthorn said the club was still confident it would have its gaming applications approved by VCAT.