G3-247 Report NEW ZEALAND
“Other than the loss of
infrastructure the main reason for the perceived decline in the
availability of contestable funds is the increase in Class 4 operators licensed with
authorised purposes that benefit special interest groups.”
ment in 2012 because the venue was used mainly for the purpose of playing slots in what is a deprived area. The new law means venues can relocate and retain the number of machines they operate. This is subject to the agreement of the venue, society and the TA.
The bill was proposed by Maori Party member Te Ururoa Flavell and as such the bill is often referred to as the Flavell Bill. The bill also slightly increases the amount of pokie machine returns that go back to the communities. He said: “Pokie machines are six times
more likely to be in poor areas than they are in wealthy ones and about a third of moderate risk gamblers are Maori. In effect we are talking about a system which transfers wealth from poor areas to wealthy ones.”
Some operators are concerned about some of the pro- posals. NZCT for instance said: “NZCT is concerned the proposed changes around return to AP and venue pay- ments will significantly impact on our ability to distrib- ute funds to provincial and rural New Zealand.
“NZCT operates a range of high and lower yielding gam- ing venues. The majority of higher yielding venues are found in urban areas whilst lower performing venues are usually located in rural or provincial centres.
“The current legislative and regulatory framework enables NZCT to retain lower yielding venues so that the communities where these venues operate can benefit from gaming grants. Any increases imposed on NZCT’s cost structure, and/or a material economic downturn and/or a loss of high yielding venues will reduce our ability to reach the minimum distribution requirements. This could in turn impact on our ability to host lower yielding gaming venues in provincial New Zealand.”
Meanwhile, Pub Charity has also responded to the pub- lic consultation and says it supports an increase in the minimum return in Year one to 40 per cent but warns further increases in minimum required returns could result in the closure of smaller venues and therefore less money returned to the community.
They said: “The main influence on a venue or society’s maximum rate of return is actually the level of gaming machine profit per venue and machine.
“Other than the loss of infrastructure the main reason for the perceived decline in the availability of con- testable funds is the increase in class 4 operators licensed with authorised purposes that benefit special interest groups.”
Meanwhile there are further changes expected. Chris Tremain also planned to amend legislation to enable licences to be issued for a longer period as an incentive for societies and venues; remove the requirement that information about grants be published in newspapers, enable auditing of management companies; strengthen the conflict of interest provisions in the Gambling Act and clarify the licence suspension powers.
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