Woolworths had tried to prevent the EGM from taking place in September by bringing legal action, marking the first time GetUp! has been involved in legal action during one of its campaigns.

“Essentially we believe there is no pressing need to discuss this in September when it can be talked about in November at the Annual General Meeting,” said Woolworths media contact Benedict Brook.

Lawyers for Woolworth's argued holding an EGM would be unnecessary and cost the company $550,000.

“Various [anti-pokies] people have been known at those meetings in previous years,” said Brook.

“It's not like what they're bringing to the table is new.”

“It's been like that for several years and people within those groups have made their feelings known.”

The Federal Court held that the company cannot ignore the motion, but did allow the meeting to be postponed to a time closer to the November AGM.

“We're glad that shareholders will have an opportunity to raise this issue that affects so many Australian families in a separate meeting, that's what we wanted all along,” said  McCallum.

“GetUp! did come to their AGM last year and raised this issue, nothing was done then and we were ignored.”

GetUp! wants to change the way Woolworths operates poker machines to help prevent people developing gambling addictions.

Proposed changes would restrict players to $1 per spin and would prevent them from losing more than $120 in an hour on a single machine.

Woolworth's is a major player in the pokies industry after its alliance with Australian Pokies King Bruce Mathieson, which created the Australian Leisure and Hospitality (ALH) Group.

Through the ALH Group, Woolworths owns 294 pubs and 496 bottle shops across the country.