Maori & Green Party MP’s Mislead Public Over Impact of Bill

Māori Party Waiariki MP, Te Ururoa Flavell and Green List MP Denise Roche have both been misleading the public about the impact of the Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill says Martin Cheer CEO of Pub Charity.

“The claim that the Bill will have no negative impacts on the funding provided to charitable and not-for-profit organisations from pub based gaming is an absolute nonsense”, he says.

The Bill promises that 80% of funds generated to be retuned as donations. Mr Cheer says that this is impossible. Without a change in tax laws nearly 37% of those funds are taken by the Government in GST, Duty, levies and licensing costs. In addition the costs of owning and servicing gaming machines absorbs approximately 10% of revenue and reimbursing venue operators for their labour costs is a further 10% .

“To achieve a return of 80% to the community the government would have to give up $150M in tax, gaming machines would need t be provided at no cost, and staff supervising the machines would have to work for nothing. None of this is possible or even likely,” he says.

“Yet again Mr Flavell shows almost no understanding of the legislation he seeks to amend, the Gambling Act 2003, or the practical aspects of the current charitable gaming model.
Earlier Mr Flavell had stated that his Bill would apply to Casinos. It doesn’t. Now he and MP Roche are promising an 80% return to communities when it cannot be delivered.”

The Bill proposes to hand the management and administration of charitable gaming over to 67 local councils and 259 community boards. A recent policy option document prepared by Auckland City Council that examined the implications of the Bill described the potential cost of administering the scheme as coming at ‘a huge expense to Council and possibly ratepayers’. The Council Committee Chairman considering the implications of Mr Flavell’s Bill said ‘the Bill if passed would put a lot on the Council at a “huge” cost’

Current legislation and Internal Affairs regulations mean that class 4 gaming machines can only be located in pubs, taverns and clubs. Traditionally these are located in working class neighbourhoods or large metropolitan CBD’s and this explains the apparent statistical association with those communities. Mr Flavell and Ms Roche’s claims that pokies target low decile areas, in particular, South Auckland, is contrary to the statistics which show that both Manakau and Waitakere have some of the lowest densities of gaming machines per head of population, in NZ

“What Mr Flavell has stated that the main purpose of the Bill was to allow for the ‘reduction or even better yet elimination of gaming machines’. One has to question the accuracy of some of Mr Flavell’s statistical information , and further, how Mr Flavell can promise more funds from a reduced number of machines and a larger bureaucracy or even better how gaming machines become a ‘safer’ product when local councils take control of the profits?”

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