Lindsay Tisch National Party Internal Affairs Spokesman

30 November 2004

Gaming Act: time for Govt to come clean

National's Internal Affairs spokesman, Lindsay Tisch, says the Government is hiding the true cost of proposed new gaming legislation.

Documents obtained by Mr Tisch under the Official Information Act reveal that the legislation will 'impact on well over 100 million of private sector funding for small to medium businesses'.

Mr Tisch says that's $100 million less for the schools, community groups and sports clubs that rely on this funding to survive.

"The compliance costs resulting from this legislation are crippling and we are already seeing gaming operators shutting up shop.

"Bars and clubs have gaming machines on their premises to help the community, but Labour is hell-bent on making that difficult. If it's too difficult, these businesses just won't bother and the community will miss out.

"National opposed the Gaming Act because we knew it would put the squeeze on the businesses and that community groups would suffer.

"We will ensure that money raised in the community stays in the community," says Mr Tisch.

ENDS

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