The Whakatāne District has seen a new draft Gambling Policy unveiled, aimed to control the gambling growth in the region. In order to do that, the Policy recommends that the number of existing gaming terminals, also known as “pokies” or “poker machines”, must be capped at 141.
The Gambling Policy needs to be reviewed every three years. With the latest Policy unveiled back in 2016, it was now time for public consultation on the proposed new policy in correspondence to the 2019/20 Annual Plan process of the Whakatāne District Council. Last week, the Council’s Policy Committee received a report recommending a proposed policy.
Public submissions on the draft Policy started on March 25th, and are set to close on April 29th, 2019. Then, a public hearing on the matter will be held on May 29th.
Apart from controlling the growth of gambling, the proposed Gambling Policy also has a number of other objectives, including prevention and minimization of the gambling-related harm, including problem gambling. Apart from that, it aims at reducing the exposure of children to gambling. As mentioned above, the Policy seeks to reduce the overall number of pokies in the Whakatāne District. The public consultation, on the other hand, also aims at making community involvement in gambling-related issues easier.
”Sinking Lid” Approach on Pokies Followed by the Newly-Proposed Policy
Deputy Mayor Judy Turner, who is the chair of the Committee, has explained that the existing policy is set to expire later in 2019, which is why it needs to be reviewed and replaced under the provisions of the Gambling Act 2003 and the Racing Act 2003.
Ms Turner further shared that there are currently 179 poker machines based in 12 venues across the Whakatāne District. In comparison, four years ago, in March 2019, there were 197 pokies situated in 14 venues in the District. Now, the newly-proposed policy is proceeding with the so-called “sinking lid” approach, under which all new gambling machines and venues applications would be rejected, until the District reaches the target of a maximum of 141 pokies.
According to the report to the Committee, the total spending on gambling terminals in the Whakatāne District in the 2017/18 period exceeded NZ$10 million. The four gaming trusts operating in the Districts, on the other hand, made contributions to the local community amounting to a total of $2.47 million.
As explained by Deputy Mayor Turner, the District is one of the places with high gambling-related harm risk, according to the assessment scale of the Ministry of Health, mainly because of the high levels of deprivation in some areas. Ms Turner, however, shared that the relatively low density of pokies means the overall risk level is addressed as medium.
That has not changed since the adoption of the existing policy in 2016. There has not been any new census data to confirm any possible increase in gambling harm, so the Council’s Policy Committee adopted a “status quo” approach for the upcoming three years.
- Author
Daniel Williams
