Auckland gets Waikato and BOP Gambling Proceeds

   A pokies trust which earns nearly half its proceeds from Waikato and Bay of Plenty gamblers is giving most of its grants to  groups in Auckland,  Green Party gambling spokesperson Denise Roche has revealed.

   An analysis of data provided by pokie trusts reveals Nautilus Trust owns pokies in pubs throughout the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty as well as Auckland, but 98 per cent of the grant funds are distributed to Auckland groups - many of them sports organisations  

   "The Waikato and Bay of Plenty have 44% of Nautilus' 154 pokie machines, but only receive 1.4% of Nautilus' grants," Ms Roche said.

   "This shows the urgent need for a different system of pokies funds distribution which ensures that the harm caused to communities by gambling is at least partly rectified by ensuring grant funding is returned to the same community.

   "Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell's Gambling Harm Reduction Bill, which the Green Party has supported through its first reading in Parliament, will deliver a fairer distribution system and is a good start towards pokie reform.

   "It would ensure at least 80% of the grant funding available from pokie profits is returned to the area they are collected from. The Nautilus case demonstrates exactly why that kind of guarantee is necessary.

   "Out of the total 229 grants that Nautilus made, only eight Waikato groups received funding. The rest went to Auckland,” said Ms Roche.

   "Bay of Plenty groups didn't apply for funding so didn't get any. But funds were still taken out of that community.

   "We need to be proactive to ensure pokie funds do not get siphoned from poor communities into wealthier ones, which is a situation we've seen time and again under the current distribution model," Ms Roche said.

Northland communities short-changed by 'Pokie Trusts'

Denise Roche MP

Community and sporting groups in Northland stand to benefit by nearly $10 million annually if a new Bill currently before Parliament is supported, Green Party gambling spokesperson Denise Roche said today.

The Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill is a Private Members Bill put forward by MP Te Ururoa Flavell, which was supported by 85 votes to 7 at its first reading in April.  The Bill will require councils to set up independent committees to distribute funds from the pokie industry.

“Pokie trusts operating in Northland only return an average of 39% of the $26 million lost annually into their pokie machines back to the community,” said Ms Roche.

"The rest is used by the pokie trusts for admin costs, including directors' fees, or goes back to the government in GST and levies.

"The new Bill will change this situation, requiring a higher rate of return of 80% to the local community, or almost $21 million annually in Northland’s case.

“Pub Charity, one of the two largest pokie trusts in Northland, returned only just over the legal minimum of 37.12% of money lost in its pokie machines to community and sporting groups,” said Ms Roche.

"Pub Charity alone would have to hand over about $4 million extra a year to Northland groups if the Flavell Bill goes through.”

"Pokies are the most harmful form of gambling, but as we recognise they will be around for some time, it is vital that any benefits gained offset harm they cause in the communities affected.”

Ms Roche was also pleased that the proposed legislation would clamp down on pokie money being recycled into the gambling industry via donations to support horse-racing and would introduce systems on pokie machines designed to reduce addiction problems.

Submissions on the Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill to the Commerce Select Committee close on 21 June, with hearings expected to be around August. The Green Party supports the Bill.

Pokies and Porkies

Te Ururoa Flavell MP

Am I the only one who thinks folks from the pokie trusts have been telling a load of porkies lately, in their desperate attempts to get public opinion on side?Te Ururoa Flavell’s Gambling Harm Reduction Bill certainly seems to have caused a flurry of lobbying – with Pub Charity and the Lion Foundation, two of the largest trusts, doing much of the lobbying.
In the last week they’ve:
- Emailed thousands of community organisations who are grant recipients, asking them to make submissions opposing the Bill
- Launched a website called Ban the Bill
- Spent tens of thousands of dollars on a 12-page insert in the weekend papers promoting their organisation’s role in the community.
From what I can see, however, all this activity does seem to be based on self-interest, rather than in the best interests of the community.
The Bill, which passed First Reading with a massive 85 votes in favour, with 7 votes opposed, would do away with these self-appointed pokie trusts. They would be replaced with local distribution committees set up by councils, in much the same way the Government’s Creative NZ Fund is currently managed.
Under current law, these trusts are only required to redistribute about 37% of pokie machine takings back to the community. So only about $240 million annually from pokie machine losses goes back to communities. The rest is split between Government levies and the well over $100 million which goes towards the trusts’ own administration costs.
This Bill increases the percentage of pokie machine takings which must be given back to the community to 80%. If the Bill becomes law, the DIA’s latest figures indicate that over $224 million in additional support would be sheeted back to the community in grants, or a total of about $464 million.
The Bill also requires new mandatory gambling addiction prevention measures on pokie machines – something problem gamblers desperately need.
All of this runs counter to what the industry’s saying in the media. Martin Cheer, CEO of Pub Charity, has claimed that the Bill would mean less money for the community. That’s ironic, given that his own outfit is short-changing community groups by nearly $28 million a year, returning only 37.7% of the $65 million currently lost via the pokie machines it owns. That’s one of the worst rates of return of any pokie trust. Mr Cheer ought to clean up his own backyard before criticising this Bill.
What there would be less money for is the expensive salaries and flash offices of the trustees and management in these self-appointed groups. And possibly less for professional rugby and other professional sports.
The reality is that communities are being ripped off by cronyism and rorts in the pokie industry. The funds consumed by the pokie trusts are enormous. The Green Party believes it’s time some transparency and accountability was brought to bear. That’s why we’re supporting Mr Flavell’s Bill.
Submissions to parliament’s Commerce Select Committee close 21 June; to make an online submission click here.
- Green Party MP Denise Roche

Pokie trusts accused of misusing community cash

[By David Fisher, NZ Herald, 6/6/12]

   Pokie charities have been accused of using money meant for community projects to oppose a proposed law 

change which threatens their survival. A complaint has been lodged with the Department of Internal Affairs asking if gaming trusts were legally entitled to spend money to oppose a bill which seeks to reform the gaming industry. 

   The gaming sector's lobbying has had an effect on senior Cabinet ministers, said Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell, who drafted the bill. Mr Flavell's private member's bill would strip power from the gaming trusts which dominate the $700 million pokie industry in pubs and clubs.

   It would put power to distribute the $300 million available to community groups in the hands of local authorities, wiping out the current funding bodies. The bill also aims to increase harm prevention measures and to increase the amount of money returned to communities which host pokie machines.

   The gaming trusts which distribute grants have been organising meetings and started an online campaign seeking support to overturn Mr Flavell's bill. The campaign included a website, barthebill.co.nz, created by Pub Charity Incorporated and emails from the Lion Foundation urging opposition.

   Problem Gambling Foundation chief executive Graeme Ramsey said he had complained about money being spent by the trusts on opposing the bill. He said the rules, governed by the department, stipulated pokie proceeds should be spent on reasonable and necessary purposes.

   "It is very questionable as to whether this meets that purpose," Mr Ramsey said.

He said the gaming sector was rallying because the bill "absolutely threatens their survival".

"Turkeys don't vote for Christmas," he said. "They are running seminars and encouraging grant recipients all over the country to put in submissions against it."

   Green Party spokeswoman on gambling Denise Roche accused gaming trusts of bullying community groups to put in submissions. She said she knew of one group which had been told by four different funding bodies in one week to put in a submission.

   The submissions were publicly declared and would allow gaming trusts to see who had opposed the bill.

   Mr Flavell said he drafted the bill because of the negative effects gambling had on Maori, Pacific and lower socio-economic communities. He said it had also become clear the gaming trust system was flawed.

   "Some of the trusts are straight out and out rorting the system. There are a number of trusts getting away with murder."

   Mr Flavell said he was concerned opponents of the bill had made statements which he believed were untrue. "Scaremongering" was counter-productive to the debate around pokie trusts which the public needed to have. He said he knew of senior Cabinet ministers being approached by the gaming sector and told of flaws in his bill.

   He expected the bill to go through changes as part of the select committee process, under which the public would have the opportunity to debate pokie machines, their proceeds and how they were distributed.