Editorial: Blow time on pokie money

The amount of money spent on pokies in Western Bay has slightly dipped from the numbers last year. Photo/File

It is pleasing to know that the amount Western Bay punters squandered on pokies dipped slightly last year.

However, the $33 million spent is still staggeringly high.

Reporter Cassandra Mason reports the dip occurred despite the number of gaming venues across the region remaining unchanged at 51 and the number of machines rose from 707 to 717 year-on-year.

Under changes announced last month by Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne, 80 per cent of proceeds will go back into the regional council area where it was spent.

However, Tauranga Problem Gambling Foundation psychologist Margaret Sloan says regional council areas are broad and will not necessarily go back to the community it was generated from. The new system appears to maximise revenue for the industry and minimise the effort to reduce gambling harm, she says.

A new commission structure for pubs with pokie machines is also being condemned by anti-gambling lobbyists. There are fears the change will encourage pokie operators to promote gambling.

It's good 80 per cent of the money spent on pokies will go back to the community but it should be broken down further to ensure that funds largely raised in poorer communities are not redistributed to areas that are better already off.

The money that flows from pokies is often a vital revenue stream for sporting clubs and community groups.

The NZ Rugby Union alone received more than $22 million from gaming trusts in 2012. Without these grants, many clubs would fold and others would have to charge payers five times as much to join, it says.

If that is the case then how did rugby clubs prosper in the years before gaming machine grants were available?

We need to ask whether we are comfortable supporting a system that takes money from those who can least afford it.

I think most community groups and organisations would be able to adapt if pokie funds dried up, and many families would be much better off if the temptation was removed.