NEWS RELEASE

15 April, 2003

Pokies Money Is Fairly Distributed

The anti-gaming lobby is being nit-picky in its claims that the profits from pokies go mainly to male sports codes, according to the Gaming Machine Association of New Zealand (GMANZ).

Chairman of GMANZ, Garry Ward, says one of the largest national trusts allocates 48% of their funding to community groups, 26% to sports groups, 14% to education, 5% to youth groups, 3% to Kindergartens and pre-school groups, 1.7% to health groups and 1% to fire and ambulance groups.

“Each trust must be true to its reason for being established and that forms part of the condition of their licence and their tax-exempt status. If the trust has a community focus, as in the example given above, then that is where they allocate most of their funds.”

“While there are many trusts that have been incorporated with the intention of promoting amateur sport in their local community, that is surely a good thing. Playing sport and belonging to sports clubs is part of the social fabric of New Zealand society. In a world where obesity is going to be the number one health problem, with huge social and economic implications, we should be doing everything we can to foster a culture of fitness in New Zealand.”

“Joining a local sports club is surely better for children than being glued to TV’s or computer screens all the time.”

Ward says if those in the arts (or any community area that feels they are not getting enough funding) are motivated to access the funds from pokies, there is nothing stopping them forming their own trusts and operating pokies machines to put the profits primarily into their choice of sector.

ENDS

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