1 August 2007

Spending on pokies up

The first set of figures from the government's electronic monitoring of gambling machines in 1600 pubs and clubs around the country indicates that spending on pokies has increased by just under five per cent between 2005-06 and 2006-07.

The estimate follows details revealed by the new electronic monitoring (EMS) of 20,000 non-casino gambling machines. The EMS became fully operational on March 9, 2007 and this is the first time accurate, timely information on pokie expenditure has been available. Figures will now be made available quarterly.

EMS enables the Department of Internal Affairs to track and monitor gaming machine operations, ensuring the integrity of games and the accurate accounting of money.

The Department's Director of Gambling Compliance, Mike Hill, said non-casino gaming machine expenditure for the quarter ended June 30 2007 was $237,705,359. If spending in the other three quarters of 2006-07 was comparable then the annual total was about $950 million, compared with $906 million in 2005-06.

"Some concerns have been expressed in the past that gambling expenditure is falling, affecting the amount gaming machine societies can distribute to the community," Mr Hill said. "Clearly that is not the trend as shown by the data being collected by EMS." The June quarter gaming machine statistics, recorded small reductions indicating that numbers are stabilising with the introduction of EMS.

In the three months to June 30, 2007, licence holders declined on the March 07 quarter, from 444 to 439, venues from 1607 to 1598 and gaming machines from 20,302 to 20, 120. Licensed gambling operations in pubs and clubs Date Licence holders Venues Gaming machines 30 June 2007 439 1598 20,120 31 Mar 2007 444 1607 20,302 31 Dec 2006 476 1666 20,518 30 Sep 2006 481 1676 20,571 30 June 2006 496 1701 20,739 31 Mar 2006 513 1721 21,026 31 Dec 2005 526 1747 21,343 30 Sep 2005 535 1770 21,684 30 June 2005 553 1801 21,846 31 Mar 2005 568 1838 22,159 31 Dec 2004 584 1850 22,231 31 Dec 2003 672 2031 22,734 30 June 2003(1) 699 2122 25,221 1. Machine numbers peaked in the quarter before the Gambling Act was passed.

Further information, including numbers of venues, machines and expenditure by territorial authority, is available from the Department's website: www.dia.govt.nz

ENDS

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