Auckland City Council
Media release
2 September 2009

Proposed new gambling venue policy amends sinking lid

A new draft gambling venue policy proposes Auckland City Council adjusts its sinking lid approach with no exceptions to an option that retains the sinking lid but allows some relocations in certain circumstances.

Chairperson of the Community Services Committee, Councillor Paul Goldsmith says “The sinking lid policy was introduced in 2004 because of real community concerns about problem gambling and pokie machines, with the result being that the number of machines in Auckland city has decreased over time.”

“However the current policy is very rigid with no exceptions, and that has resulted in some perverse outcomes. We believe that the proposed new policy going out for public consultation is a common sense approach with more flexibility.”

The draft policy will not consent to any increase in venue or machine numbers, but would allow the council to consent to a “new” class 4 venue under the following conditions:

• the new venue must replace an existing venue
1 the new venue must operate fewer machines than the venue it replaces
2 the new venue cannot be established:
• in a high deprivation area of the city (any area with a deprivation level of eight, nine or ten)
1 on council owned land
2 within 100 metres of an existing class 4 venue
3 within 100 metres of a school, early childhood centre, kindergarten, place of worship or community facility.

The new policy will also not consent to any increase in New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB) venue numbers, but would allow council to consent a “new”NZRB venue under the following conditions:
• the new NZRB venue must replace an existing NZRB venue
1 the new NZRB venue cannot be established:
• on council owned land
1 within 500 metres of any physical TAB betting services
2 within 100 metres of a school, early childhood centre, kindergarten, place of worship or community facility.

“The proposed new policy helps to prevent and minimise gambling-related harm by reducing the gambling machines over time, and allowing venues and gambling machines to be relocated out of clusters and areas of high deprivation.

“This is an improvement on the existing policy which has effectively frozen the historic location of gambling machines, as even if the venue is run down the machines are unable to move. The current policy also gives corporate societies no ability to shift location if a venue has to be closed down due to public works,” says Mr Goldsmith.

The council has been through an extensive process to develop the draft gambling venue policy which has included a review of the existing policy, analysis of research and data on class 4 gambling, consideration of alternative options and stakeholder feedback from problem gambling groups, health providers, venue operators, corporate societies, the New Zealand Racing Board, business and shopping associations and community boards.

The Community Services Committee has referred the draft gambling venue policy to Council for consideration at its meeting on 24 September.

If endorsed, a month long period of consultation will then begin, allowing the public to make submissions on the draft policy between 5 October and 2 November 2009. Submitters will be given the opportunity to present verbal submissions to a Hearings Panel in November 2009.

The Hearings Panel will then write a report outlining the submissions received and recommending a final gambling venue policy to Council by March 2010.

Notes to editors:

The Gambling Act 2003 requires that Territorial Local Authorities (TLA) develop a gambling venue policy for their districts and gives them limited powers to control the location of class 4 and New Zealand Racing Board venues, and the number of gaming machines.
Class 4 gambling is any activity that involves the use of an electronic gaming machine outside a casino (eg ‘pokie machines’ in venues such as pubs, clubs and sports bars). New Zealand Racing Board venues are commonly known as standalone TABs.
Auckland City Council’s current Gambling venue policy does not consent to the establishment of any new class 4 or NZRB venues in the city. The policy also does not consent to any increase in gaming machines within existing class 4 venues.
The current gambling venue policy was approved in April 2004. In 2007, council reviewed the policy and decided not to make any changes to the 2004 document. The policy must be reviewed every three years.
The key advantages of the proposed sinking lid with relocations approach are that it:
• provides a mechanism for venues to be relocated out of existing clusters and areas of high deprivation – subject to the loss of one or more machines

• has the impact of reducing total machine numbers over time

• provides flexibility to allow venues to relocate to better facilities rather than being limited to current venues – subject to the loss of one or more machines

• provides flexibility to facilitate the relocation of machines where a venue is closed through no fault of the venue operator or corporate society (e.g. if a venue is compulsorily acquired for a public work) – subject to the loss of one or more machines

• provides flexibility for lessees to relocate machines off council-owned land – subject to the loss of one or more machines

• allows additional criteria to prevent and reduce gambling related harm (e.g. proximity criteria for the relocated venues).

In reviewing the gambling venue policy, several issues outside of the scope of the policy but related have also been identified for improvement. As these issues relate to central government regulation of the industry, council will be advocating that central government:
• amend the definition of “authorised purposes” in the Gambling Act 2003 to remove racing, and emphasise the importance of community activities and groups
• require that corporate societies distribute funding to the communities where gambling losses are generated, and that this be measured and reported at a TLA level
• improve and standardise reporting requirements for corporate societies on funding distributed for authorised purposes. This is to ensure consistency across the industry and to enable the Department of Internal Affairs to collect information on funding at a TLA level.

While Auckland City Council can control whether or not any new class 4 or NZRB venues are opened in the city, and if so where they will go, it is important to note that council’s powers do not extend to:

• Skycity casino
• Class 4 venues in existence prior to October 2001 (other than to limit the maximum number of machines these venues can have)
• TAB outlets other than standalone NZRB venues (eg TAB counters and self-service machines in pubs)
• Lotto venues, online and electronic gambling (eg TAB website and gambling via Skybet).

ENDS

© Scoop Media