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Posts Tagged ‘Gambling’

Some gambling facts

Posted by Chris Hipkins on June 14th, 2011

At his press conference yesterday, John Key argued that casinos are better at ‘harm minimisation’ than the average pokie machine operator. I tend to agree with him on that, which is why I’m disappointed his government haven’t done more to address the significant issue problem gambling is causing in some of our poorest communities.

At this point in proceedings I thought it would be useful to get a few facts about gambling in New Zealand on the table:

  • New Zealanders lost $2.034 billion through gambling in 2008 of which $938 million was lost through pokies.
  • $5.6 million is gambled every day in New Zealand.
  • Pokies (outside casinos) took $889 million in 2009, compared to $107 million in 1991, and have 46% of the gambling market.
  • 2.5million is lost every day on pokies – not including casinos.
  • There are 19359 non-casino pokie machines (March 2010) in New Zealand. With casino pokies this means there is one machine for every 134 people over 18 years.
  • Pokie machines are the most harmful form of gambling as over 78% of problem gamblers use them as their primary mode of gambling.
  • Between 10,000 and 60,000 (0.3% and 1.8%) of adults are problem gamblers in New Zealand.
  • A 2009 Ministry of Health study shows that pokie machines are concentrated in the most vulnerable communities.
  • 54% venues are in decile 8,9 & 10 areas and 56% Maori and 72% Pacific peoples live in these decile areas.
  • In decile 9 areas there is 1 pokie machine for every 75 people and in decile 1 areas there is 1 pokie machine per 465 people.
  • A study in 2005 found that approximately 35% of foodbank clients were either problem gamblers themselves or were affected by the gambling of others.

Now that John Key has suddenly had a revelation and decided that problem gambling and pokie machines are such a big problem in low socio-economic areas, I look forward to hearing his government’s comprehensive plan to deal with the issue. I won’t be holding my breath though…

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Key puts up ‘NZ For Sale’ sign

Posted by Chris Hipkins on June 13th, 2011

It’s time for John Key’s government to stop being dictated to by multi-national corporations and start putting the best interests of New Zealanders ahead of corporate profits. News that SkyCity has decided to invest in a new International Convention Centre in Auckland is great news for the economy, locally and nationally. But that doesn’t mean we should rush out and change our laws and regulations to suit the interests of SkyCity’s shareholders.

When Warner Brothers held a gun to National’s head, John Key rolled over and changed our employment laws to suit their whims. Now we’re seeing him roll over and offer to change our gambling laws to suit SkyCity. That’s not good enough. The National government should be guided by what is in the best interests of all New Zealanders, not what’s in the best interests of corporate giants.

It’s ironic that National aren’t willing to back New Zealand companies like KiwiRail, preferring to see contracts for new trains and carriages shipped offshore, but when one of the private sector big corporates clicks their fingers it seems there isn’t anything John Key won’t do to please them.

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Filed under: Investment, democracy, legislation, privatisation
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More dodgy pokie machine scams

Posted by Chris Hipkins on August 4th, 2010

The Otago Daily Times has been hot on the heels of dodgy pokie trust scams for some time. Today they have a story about an alleged “money-go-round” involving several south Auckland pokie machine venues and southern racing clubs. Personally I find the idea that the profits from pokie venues in South Auckland are being channelled to racing clubs in the lower South Island pretty appalling.

Pokie trusts should be investing the money collected through pokie machines back into the communities they are taken from. In recent months we’ve seen countless examples of pokie trusts using money that should have been applied for charitable purposes to compete with each other for venues, refurbish venues, and even wine and dine people at flash restaurants. It’s time to end the rorts.

I questioned the Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy about this when he appeared before the Select Committee during the Estimates process. He referred almost every question to officials. When I asked if he thought the legislation needed changing, he said no. In other words, he’s washing his hands of the problem. That’s not good enough. It’s time for him to earn his ministerial salary…

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Time to clean up pokie trusts

Posted by Chris Hipkins on May 9th, 2010

Last week there was quite a bit of media coverage around some pretty dodgy goings on within some of the pokie trusts. It’s time for the government to get stuck in and clean this mess up once and for all. The Gambling Act of 2003 was a step in the right direction, but there is still a way to go. Under the Act, the profits from pokie machines have to go back into the community for charitable purposes, but there are still too many rorts.

Recent revelations that gaming machine proceeds have been used to renovate a pokie room in a strip club, fund lavish meals in fancy restaurants, and encourage gaming venues to switch from one Trust to another prove the point pretty clearly. It’s time to put much more stringent requirements around how the money can be spent so that as much as possible goes back into local community groups and clubs. Times are tough and they really need the money.

Both the current Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy and his predecessor Richard Worth acknowledged the problem. It’s time for them to do something about it. They could start by progressing the Gambling Amendment Act currently on the Order Paper and taking a close look at some of the amendments our Green colleague Kevin Hague has put forward. Doing nothing isn’t an option.

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Filed under: community
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How much was Trump paid?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on March 15th, 2010

Gambling in New Zealand is highly regulated. Casinos and pokie machine venues can’t advertise. The notable exception is Lotto, who can get away with a lot more than other gambling outlets. Can you imagine Sky City getting away with a TV advertising campaign suggesting you could “Trump up your life” by visiting the casino? Me neither.

I think given the extra lattitude that Lotto are given in their advertising it’s important that they’re upfront and transparent in their activities. I’m concerned that they are refusing to reveal how much they paid Donald Trump for their latest promotion. Newstalk ZB has the story.

Which raises the wider issue: should Lotto be treated differently to other forms of gambling like casinos and pokie venues? Are our restrictions on Lotto advertising too light, or are our restrictions on casino and pokie advertising too heavy, or is it a combination of both? Interested in your thoughts…

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Filed under: policy, regulation
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Business placement at Sky City

Posted by Chris Hipkins on October 3rd, 2009

I spent most of the past week up in Auckland on a Business and Parliament Trust placement at Sky City. The placements are a great opportunity for MPs from all parties to spend some time in a large company learning more about their business and the business environment in general. I chose Sky City for a variety of reasons, including my role as Labour’s spokesperson on gambling issues. I was also interested in the hospitality and conventions side of their business.

Throughout the week I had an opportunity to sit down with most of the company’s senior team and discuss everything from their HR practices through to their approach to foreign exchange, interest rates and debt management. Naturally we spent quite a lot of time talking about the gambling side of the business, their host responsibility policies and the constraints the regulatory and legal environment places on them.

Although I’ve worked for a large corporate before (I spent a couple of years working as a training manager in the oil and gas industry), I’d never seen the inside of a large hospitality business before. We did a tour of the convention centre and the various kitchens throughout the complex and I was simply blown away. I’d always wondered how the catering was handled for a 1,000+ conference dinner – now I know!

The Business and Parliament Trust does a really great job of providing MPs with the opportunity to stay in touch with business and providing business with opportunities to engage more with politicians. I found my week at Sky City an incredibly valuable one and I’d highly recommend a business placement to any MPs who haven’t already done one. I certainly hope to do another one in future years.

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Filed under: Auckland, business
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The Gambling Amendment Bill

Posted by Chris Hipkins on July 14th, 2009

At some stage soon parliament will resume debate on the Gambling Amendment Bill (No2). It’s a largely technical Bill that makes minor amendments so that the law will work as intended. One of the issues it covers is the distribution of pokie machine profits which, by law, have to be used for charitable purposes. However those profits don’t have to go back into the communities they were drawn from and quite a bit of pokie money goes into paying rental space for the machines, director’s fees for the ‘charities’ that distribute the funds, and other similar ‘expenses’.

During the Second Reading debate, the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Richard Worth, conceded that there were some questionable funding practices within the industry. He subsequently indicated in discussions with me that he thought those issues should be the subject of a separate piece of legislation. It’s an undertaking I hope the new Minister will honour.

In the meantime, Sue Bradford has tabled a number of amendments to the current Bill and while I think that some of them are wide of the Bill’s scope (it’s supposed to contain technical amendments, not significant policy changes) I think they’re worthy of debate. They include requirements for pokie machines to be located entirely indoors (not in courtyards where people can smoke, drink and gamble at the same time) and for the majority of the grants to be made back into the communities the money came from in the first place.

The amendments would also prohibit the use of pokie machine profits for racing stake money. I don’t have a problem with racing clubs receiving charitable grants. It would be unfair to stop racing clubs receiving any funding whilst still allowing other sports clubs to get it. However currently it is perfectly legal for a pokie machine operator to hand over their profits to the racing industry to use as prize money. In my view that is one form of gambling subsidising another and I can’t see how it can be justified.

I’d be interested in people’s views on pokie machines and how the profits should be distributed. Do we have too many pokie machines? Should the profits have to go back into the communities they are taken from? Should racing stake money be an authorised charitable purpose? Should we move to a more centralised system for grant distribution (eg. A model similar to lottery grants)? All reasonable and sensible argument and suggestions welcome.

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Filed under: consultation, parliament
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