The beginning of the week saw some Palmerston North officials announce that the number of poker machines in the city could be gradually reduced in case the local residents support the City Council’s proposal to introduce a measure called a sinking lid policy.
The Community Committee of the Council has approved putting the plan out for public consultation. However, councillors and staff are both sceptical about the efficiency of the proposed sinking lid policy when it comes to the minimisation of gambling-related harm and risks associated with problem gambling.
As confirmed by Julie Macdonald, a strategy and policy manager, there were 295 active class 4 gaming machines on the territory of Palmerston North. This was a much lower number than the 367 pokies that were available in 2015, as well as the current city’s poker machine cap of 347.
According to reports, the number of poker machines may have declined but the amount of money spent on them by local residents had risen to more than NZ$22 million last year, which is the highest spend recorded over the past seven years. As revealed by official data, each pokie hosted in venues across Palmerston North was collecting more than NZ$75,000 every year, a figure that has been significantly larger than the national average of just under NZ$70,000.
City Council Seeks to Tackle Gambling-Related Harm
Under the provisions of the Gambling Act, poker machine operators are currently required to return 40% of their pokie net proceeds to local communities as grants. Back in 2021, that amount was estimated to be over NZ$5.2 million for the community and sports groups in Palmerston North.
As revealed at the time, that amount represented 22% of local proceeds, but Ms Macdonald shared that grants to organisations that were not registered in the city were not included, although the presence of some companies’ branches benefitted Palmerston North’s economy.
According to reports, the number of local consumers who sought professional help for their gambling addiction reached a new high in the year that ended on June 30th, 2022, at 142 – that was double the number registered only a year earlier. Furthermore, so-called poker machines (also known as pokies) were the most common form of gambling for people who sought help to deal with their compulsive gambling behaviour.
According to the measure’s supporters, the implementation of a sinking lid policy would mean no more pokies could be set up as venues set to voluntarily give up their licences or some machines are simply shut down. The policy would see only already existing gambling machine operators given the chance to relocate in exceptional circumstances.
So far, approximately 50% of City Councils across the country had imposed a sinking lid policy, which is pretty much the only way local authorities are able to affect gambling. As far as Palmerston North is concerned, some residents had already addressed the City Council, asking it to adopt a suitable sinking lid policy in order to tackle gambling-related harm.
- Author
Daniel Williams
