Christchurch Gambling Action Group

04 June 2009

New Action Group Calls on Trustees to Blow Whistle

A newly formed Christchurch Gambling Action Group is calling on those involved or connected with Pokie Trusts to blow the whistle on any illegal activities.

“We know there have been a number of cases of illegal and shady activity connected to Pokie Trusts exposed recently and we believe this could be just the tip of the iceberg”, Robyn Hayward said.

“We know that there are some good people involved in these Pokie Trusts and we are appealing to their conscience to speak out on behalf of all of the good causes that could be missing out because of dodgy insider deals”, Robyn Hayward said.

A recent example includes a $2 million pokie fraud involving Brent Todd and Hugh McGahan. The scam involved 4 years of false invoices and accounts to defraud sports organisations out of hundreds of thousands of dollars from pokie proceeds.

The Christchurch Gambling Action Group believes Pokie Trusts should be abolished and a more transparent and accountable system put in place that ensures that the Pokie Trust money goes to where it is needed the most.

“Given the recession and the substantial pressure on various social service and charitable organisations there isn’t a better time than now to review how this funding operates and ensure that the funding goes to where it is needed the most”, Robyn Hayward said.

Pokies cause harm to individuals and families but also have the potential to do harm to whole communities.

The Christchurch Gambling Action Group is a loose coalition of representatives from social service agencies and other individuals concerned about gambling harm.

ENDS

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